


Military Personnel

by BleedingCoffee



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: AU, Royai - Freeform, Royai 100, mash au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-05 00:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3098051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BleedingCoffee/pseuds/BleedingCoffee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the RoyAi 100 Themes, Prompt #001 Military Personnel. A MASH AU set in Ishval.   Dr. Riza Hawkeye has her father's apprentice as a patient.  RoyAi</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Friendly Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or MASH.
> 
> AN: Usually when I do an AU I don't really pick on universe or the other, I use one to create a situation within the FMA universe. For this, I adopted the MASH ranks and positions for most of the characters and left Mustang as a typical guest role on the 'show'. The program was a 'comedy' but really that masked a lot of war commentary targeted at the Vietnam War. Still the lines between shows are rather scrambled in this little AU, as I work off that simple little RoyAi 100 prompt that set me off. It's what the prompt conjured up in my mind and I let it take it's course.

 

* * *

 

_Military Personnel_

Chapter 1

**Friendly Fire**

* * *

_"Attention all military personnel, incoming wounded. All surgeons please report to the O.R."_

Sara Rockbell looked over at the young doctor currently face down in her cot as Fuery's voice crackled over the P.A. "Hawkeye, we have more wounded."

Riza Hawkeye rolled over and looked at the older doctor who gave her an understanding smile. They had already worked a straight 24, thanks to the State Alchemists being in the vicinity. Atrocities of war were a given, but the alchemists managed to take that up a notch. "So much for sleep."

Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes pushed into the tent without bothering to knock and looked at Hawkeye's cot. "Hey, just got off the radio with HQ, we got a priority patient. State Alchemist."

"We don't prioritize by rank." Riza mumbled. "Go through triage like everyone else."

"He's being sent here because MASH 611 is the best." Hughes said and watched the young woman sigh. She was too young to be this bitter, but the war had done this to all of them. Saving lives only to send men back into hell, it was not what any of them expected when going into the medical field.

"Best care anywhere..." she replied.

He gave her a smile as she mumbled the unit's motto. "This one might be of interest to you."

"Doubtful."

"Our newest guest is going to be the Flame Alchemist."

Riza's eyes shot open. So now her father's apprentice would be on her table? She looked at Hughes who knew that this would be her reaction. So she would finally get to meet the man who convinced her father to pass on his knowledge before he left this earth? He would finally be more than just a name. " _The_  Roy Mustang gracing MASH 611 with his presence? I'd roll out the red carpet but I'd hate for him to make himself at home, being so used to staining his boots with the blood of the innocent."

Hughes frowned. Bitter probably was a little mild for Riza's outlook. "Fuhrer's orders Hawkeye, fix him so he can go back to work. Please don't cause problems."

"You better pick a different surgeon. Like Urey. Or Frank. Yes, Frank Archer would love an ass to kiss so he can get his promotion."

"The Fuhrer requested you." Hughes said quietly. "Sorry. Get some rest, I have to keep you fresh as I can so be can go right into the O.R. when he gets here."

"No. We have incoming wounded, I'm going in now." Hawkeye sat up in her cot and rubbed her eyes. "Why the hell does our mighty leader want a medical student working on his prized weapon?"

"You have the steadiest hands." Hughes replied. "He's got an eye injury."

"I think all you real doctors should be insulted." Hawkeye snorted and rolled her hand over her face. "Let's quit and protest that slight."

"Riza." Hughes knelt down next to her. "Your skill has been noted by damned near anyone who has seen you work. It's not gone unnoticed, hence why you were drafted and sent to war before graduating. The Fuhrer demands the best and I agreed it was you."

"I thought you liked me." She said and saw his weary green eyes through his classes. Bloodshot, unfocused and just too worn out to argue with her. "I treat the other wounded first."

"Riza..."

"Fire me, then." She stood up and looked for something semi-clean to change into.

"Fine." He sighed knowing the log books would be scrutinized and he would be asked why he allowed this.

* * *

Roy Mustang reached out for the nearest voice, still disillusioned by the bandage wrapped around his eyes. "Excuse me?"

Sara Rockbell went over to the young man and took his outstretched hand. Her voice was soft and comforting, she didn't hold any resentment towards the soldier like Hawkeye did. He actually seemed to be a polite young man. "What can I do for you Major?"

He really couldn't answer that. All he wanted was to be acknowledged since he couldn't see where he was. "Was anyone else injured?"

"From what the medics relayed to our driver,". She knelt next to him and squeezed his hand reassuringly and checked his bandage. "Major Mustang your men were safe thanks to what you did. You should have closed your eyes."

"I need to see to judge how to manipulate the oxygen, that was not an option." He let the events play out in his mind again, how he had forced his eyes to remain open and be battered by burning embers, debris and sand. "That wind storm...it could have turned that town into an inferno. They were just doing routine rounds, checking for casualties, sweeping the town..."

"Major." She squeezed his hand. They had plenty of officers go through here, some were dedicated to their men others only interested in using them like pawns. She hoped Riza would look past his connection to her estranged father and see that he could potentially be one of the good ones. "You saved them."

"So they are unharmed?" Roy tried to ignore the pain. His eyes felt like they were on fire and if he squeezed his eyelids it only made it worse.

"Who do you think got you medical attention?" She watched him take a deep breath. "You'll be in the O.R. soon, Dr. Hawkeye is..."

"Hawkeye?" Roy asked surprised. What a weird coincidence. He was about to tell her why the name struck a chord but then he heard a different feminine voice.

"I'm his daughter." Riza said, hearing that surprise in his voice and knowing he was about to explain himself. "I'm ready for him."

Roy tried to sit up and look in the direction of the voice as he heard a door slam shut. It was a pointless move, he couldn't see anything even if the bandage wasn't wrapped around his head. He felt a hand on his shoulder and realized the nurse was trying to keep him where he was.

"Just relax Major." Sara said softly.

He braced himself as the gurney began to move and he heard the door swing open around him. He heard a few voices, but not what he would expect from a busy field hospital. There was a clink of instruments, groans from wounded soldier, a machine that went 'ping' and a few stern voices of those in charge. He felt the gurney come to a stop and then the bed sheet lifted and he was placed on a more sturdy table. His nose took in the scent of the room and felt a hand on his chest. "Hello?"

Riza frowned. Well at least he was polite. That didn't surprise her, her father would have never accepted anything less. "Major, I'm going to take your bandage off. Keep your eyes closed until I tell you, understand?"

That was her voice again. He tilted his head as her hands began to unwrap the gauze around his eyes. "You're Elizabeth?"

"Not anymore, I go by Riza now." She could have cut the wrap, but each layer would allow his eyes to adjust to the overhead light a little better.

"Your father..."

"My father died when my mother did. That hollow shell of a man who resided in our house with me was only interested in waiting for death and not caring for the living. Hence the reason I left." Riza unwound another layer.

Roy bit his lip. What could he say? Berthold Hawkeye was an emotionally devoid man, he dealt in facts. The fact was that his daughter left and went to live with her grandfather, ergo Elizabeth was no longer part of his life. Words straight from his mouth when he had found a picture of the young girl with her parents in a drawer in his room. The photo was dated, and he remembered calculating her age. She would have been three years his younger. "You're a doctor? Aren't you too young for that?"

"Quick study, apparently I have my father's brain capacity. The army also isn't very picky about who they employ to patch up wounded, I'm still a medical student but the military granted me the title of Captain and Doctor when they drafted me. Besides, you're a little young to be a State Alchemist."

"It's nice to finally meet you."

That caught her off guard. She was hoping he'd be an asshole, but he was proving to be the opposite. Allowing his eyes to be scratched up in order to save his men, not asking for any special treatment in triage and now he was cautiously trying to tread on eggshells and talk about Berthold Hawkeye. However she couldn't bury her hostility just yet. There was a reason he was here. "Yes. I was curious how a student of Master Hawkeye could join the military and use his craft as a weapon of war. I might have left my father's home young, but I doubt he changed his views that much."

Roy wondered how long it would be before she brought that up. "He wasn't happy about it either."

"I've seen your work, it's everything he feared it would be. Flame Alchemy at it's worst, a weapon of the State...destroyer of the innocent."

"I wanted to help people. I wanted to...protect our country." He sighed as the final layer of bandage was removed. "I...didn't expect this."

"Open your eye for me." She instructed, signifying that time for bedside chat was now over.

He had to fight the urge to squeeze his eyelids closed again, but her fingers helped him keep them open. Tears had been streaming down his face non-stop, his body trying to purge the foreign substances by itself. The medic team had tried to flush what they could with saline, but they weren't qualified to do anything with the debris embedded in his cornea. He could only see blurs through the tears, so his first glimpse of Elizabeth Hawkeye was almost angelic. A blond figure with a halo of light from the fixture overhead.

She took the ophthalmic instrument and looked into his eye. "You've got quite a bit embedded in your cornea. If you're lucky then nothing has penetrated deeper than that, however from the field report it seems that you were subject to some high winds and I'm concerned it's going to be worse than it looks. If it's just a scratch, your eye usually heals within 48 hours. However if it is deep then you're going to be running a higher risk of infection once we remove the debris."

"OK." He wasn't going to say how much she reminded him of her father right now. Providing all the information without giving him the answer he so desperately was seeking. She let him close his eye and her fingers moved to his other eye, he obediently forced it open. "Will I lose vision?"

"It's going to depend upon how bad these fragments are embedded. What I am going to do next is place a anesthetic eye drop in here to relieve some of the pain, followed by a fluorescein dye that will allow me to see the cornea abrasions under the lamp. I'll remove the particles, flush the eye and check for anything lodged under your eyelid. You'll have to keep this bandage on for at least 2 days but I'm going to require you to stay here at least a week so I can monitor you. Hope you can reschedule any plans for incinerating the masses until next week."

He gulped. Yes, there was that Hawkeye trait again; punish the student for asking a question too early by burying them in facts then insulting your character to keep you humble. "OK."

"Keep your eyes closed. I'll have a nurse start the anesthesia process." Riza stood and looked down at him, his eye clamped back shut as soon as she told him it was allowed. A little part of her appreciated the irony that her father got a handsome apprentice after she vacated his home. "How did you convince my father to share his secret with you? That couldn't have been an easy task."

Roy's voice caught in his throat. He cleared it and quietly replied, "He asked me to use it to protect his daughter."

The thought of her father suddenly caring about her well being made her anger swell again. "Protect my job security? I hardly see what else you could possibly be doing here in Ishval other than providing more bodies I need to tend to."

"I..." He felt the tears streaming out of his eyes and knew that they weren't because of the eye injury. "Wanted to protect my country."

Riza nodded to the nurse who came over to start the sedative process. "Major Mustang, do you still want to trust your life to my hands? I can get you another doctor."

"Hawkeye, I don't want anyone but you." He jumped as he felt a hand on his chest to signify that the next stage was beginning. He twitched as mask was placed over his face so he could inhale some sedatives.

And the room stood still as his voice seemed to carry perfectly for that simple statement. Her eyes grew wide as those words struck out across the O.R. like a bell ringing in the still of the morning fog. Then she heard Hughes snicker at at table next to her and she shot him a glare. Men said all kinds of things when they were drinking in the inviting tendrils of slumber thanks to the anesthesia mask, especially here. It never escaped ridicule.

"He must like being talked down to and ordered around." Hughes chimed in as he looked over his shoulder at the now unconscious Major.

"He didn't mean it like that." Riza glared at him

"Yeah, I never hear soldiers moan how much they want me." Hughes chirped. "Extended stay for him too, lucky guy."

"Don't you have a patient you should be focusing on?" Riza hated when he teased her, the man acted more like a older brother instead of a superior officer and in times like these it would be nice to be professional.

"I'm just making an observation." He replied and continued to suture his patient.

"You said it yourself, the Fuhrer wanted him repaired and put back to work." She walked over to look at the other doctor as he slid his glasses down his nose to peer at her. "I think the people of Ishval and this hospital staff would appreciate a reprieve from  _his_  work."

"I'll nominate you for a humanitarian award." He winked at her.

"Fine.  _You_  can take him as your patient."

Hughes mimicked the Major's voice, poorly. "Hawkeye , I don't want anyone but you. Nope, that guy outranks you. Protocol dictates you follow orders."

"Stop trying to marry me to every officer who rolls in here!" She snapped back, knowing where this was going. Everything with Hughes eventually lead to showing pictures of his wonderful family back home or insisting that she find herself a man who respected her.

"Just the ones who politely ask you to probe their orifices." Hughes knotted his stitch and stood up. "Fate put that man on your table."

"The Fuhrer put him on my table."

Hughes chuckled. "You're the one who took every patient but him so you two could spend an evening alone together."

"Nothing to do with knowing he was going to want to talk about my father. Hardly a conversation I want to have with Frank Archer at the next table, probably listening so intently he stitches up his patient with a few surgical instruments inside."

"Frank." Hughes snorted. "I bet he's having a fit right now lamenting the loss of the chance to be the Flame Alchemist private surgeon. To think he could have personally reported to Central the state of their most precious asset and volunteered to travel with him in case he had another medical emergency."

Hawkeye looked over at her patient and stretched. "If you're done, I have a patient."

"Sure!" Hughes said with a nudge. "Just report to me when you're done, OK?"

* * *

Riza slid down the wall in the prep room and closed her eyes. The last hour of meticulously picking fragments out of Major Mustang's eyeballs had made her incredibly tense. She was exhausted, just like everyone here, and it too a very high level of concentration to keep her hands stead enough to remove the shrapnel without damaging his eye more than it already was. She had to keep the lights dim, afraid to do damage to his vulnerable eyes, and that caused even more strain. Now her head was pounding.

Sara bent down beside her, having come over to assist once she was done with making her own rounds. "Riza, dear, lets get you to bed."

"I think I'm too tired to sleep." She admitted.

"Do you want to talk?"

Riza looked up at the slightly older doctor and smiled and shook her head. No, talking about that stranger who she just happened to share a common link with was not what was bothering her. "I kept thinking...what if he doesn't get better? Then he can't destroy people anymore."

"Riza." Sara said disapprovingly.

"I did my best in there. He won't lose vision because of something I did, but to hold that power in my hand..." She looked across the room at a calendar, not even sure if it was on the correct month or not. "I think that's the first time I ever thought about something like that. It's always been about doing my job since I was sent here. I put the soldier back together, they leave. With him though, I feel there is a greater obligation."

"Just go to bed." Sara said and pulled her to her feet. "I'll let Hughes know he's out of surgery."


	2. Best Care Anywhere

 

 

 

_Military Personnel_

Chapter 2

**Best Care Anywhere**

* * *

Roy groaned as he finally pushed past the intoxicating caress of sleep and unconsciousness and realized he was probably neglecting to do something. When was the last time he actually woke up well rested? That feeling in itself meant he was definitely oversleeping. However this morning the struggle to open his eyelids was a little more intense, it felt like he had something physical to fight against and he sat up, hoping to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Instead he found his head was wrapped in a bandage and grunted. His eyes stung and hurt like hell. So it wasn't just a bad dream.

"Hey buddy, leave that alone if you know what's good for you!"

Roy heard the clank of metal and turned to the source which was evidently next to his cot. "Automail?"

"Armor! Want to cop a feel?"

Roy frowned as his arm was taken by a cold metal hand and he wrestled it back before it could be placed somewhere inappropriate. "Who are you?"

"Barry." He squatted down and his armor creaked.

"This bandage..." Roy took his other hand to touch the wrap on his head.

Barry leaned over and frowned. "I can cut it off, but I think Hawkeye will probably be pissed."

"I was going to say, is tight." Roy grimaced as he realized the smell of wet fur, rotting hide and soy sauce was coming from this Barry guy.

"It keeps your eyeballs from falling out of your head." Barry chirped.

"You're not a qualified medical professional are you?" Roy said dryly.

"Nope, I'm the cook, butcher...orderly. Put your hands out so I can give you your meds and water."

Roy did as instructed and was happy to feel a cup and some pills in his hands and not something metallic and awkward. "So, armor?"

"Yeah, want me to describe what I'm wearing?" Barry asked in his most flirtatious voice.

"Not at all." Roy made a sour face and it wasn't from the bite of the un-coated pharmaceuticals that hit his tongue.

"Barry!" Hughes barked. "I said make sure he's comfortable and that in no way meant 'try to seduce him'."

"Fine." Barry huffed and stood up again. "Just don't get any ideas about Hawkeye, she's my girlfriend."

"You lying hunk of scrap," Hughes snorted. "She wants you shot."

Roy just swallowed his medication with as little movement as possible and washed it down with the sulfury water. His head hurt, eyes burned and he just wanted a little time to himself to process everything. There was a possibility he might lose his eyesight and he just met Master Hawkeye's daughter. Right now, he wasn't in the mood for distraction.

Hughes watched Barry walk off, saying inappropriate things to everyone in a bed as he passed. "Excuse him, he's trying to get discharged for being mentally unstable. Unfortunately all his other attempts have failed so now he's talking dirty to patients."

"And you are?" Roy asked.

"Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes! I run this hospital."

"And Barry is?"

"A medical, er alchemy, experiment. You're not the first alchemist we've had here. His soul is bound to that armor with a blood seal. Not nearly the perfect soldier they expected, so we got to keep him." Hughes took his glasses off and cleaned them. "You should have been here last month when he was in his Colonial era nurses outfit. Let's just say it was restrictive and I didn't need to know that he had a codpiece."

Roy wondered if he should just stay quiet. "This is your command, I'm sure you could come up with some way to keep him in line?"

"Let Barry win?" Hughes chuckled. "Nope. Besides, I like the caveman toga thing he has going now. He's got the legs for it and I'm pretty sure it's keeping away the coyotes."

"And he wants to be discharged?" Roy asked, a little more curious about this armored soldier they had.

"It's funny because he's technically not even human so we don't pay him. He can leave any time. I think he just enjoys scaring people. He's not so bad, keeps things interesting around here. He hopes he'll get his body back someday." Hughes sat down on the cot. "So, Major, do you have a girlfriend or wife at home I should inform of your injury?"

Roy frowned. Since when did they offer that as a bedside service? "I was under the impression my injury was to be kept quiet so morale didn't take a hit."

Hughes frowned. "Sorry just making conversation."

Roy shifted in his cot so he was a bit more comfortable sitting upright. He felt like he was being lead into a trap. "I'm not seeing anyone, but I'm pretty sure Barry isn't my type."

Hughes squeaked and pulled out his pictures. "Want to see my beautiful wife and daughter!?"

"I can't see." Roy said as he felt the man flail around on his cot. It didn't seem to matter.

"I'll describe them to you!"

"Barry might not be the only one who scares people around here." Roy mumbled as Hughes rambled on about cute this and adorable that.

"Just picture the cutest little girl you've ever seen and Elicia is a thousand times cuter." Hughes hugged his photo. "She made me a macaroni picture that says "I love Daddy!"! She's only four!"

"Isn't that what four year olds do?" Roy queried and wondered how much longer it would be before he could believable tell this hyper guy that his meds were making him drowsy.

"Here is a picture of my wife, Gracia, and Elicia hugging her! They made a sign that says 'We miss you' and had my mother-in-law take a picture for me! Isn't that adorable!" Hughes squeaked and stared at it again.

"Colonel." Hawkeye leaned against the infirmary wall and sighed. "You do realize that the man can't see what you're showing him."

Hughes narrowed his eyes at her. She was supposed to be sleeping. "Of course I know that, Riza. I think it's very comforting for a patient to have some very vivid images of happiness and family to console him in his darkest hour."

"Just keep taking shots at the blinded guy." Roy muttered.

"Maes, you really want men to be fantasizing about your wife and daughter? Stop it!" Riza shook her head.

"Want me to describe you instead?" Hughes smirked. "She's single by the way."

"I'm checking on my patient, not checking him out." Hawkeye growled and walked over to her patient who looked like he had adjusted in his cot to try to get away from Hughes.

"I'm blind, not deaf." Roy chimed in. "I can still hear you both."

"You're not blind." Riza looked down at him and saw his eye brows lift above the bandage, a sign of hope. "I am confident you will have minimum vision loss."

"Good," Roy smiled. "I was hoping to find out why Barry smelled like roadkill before I ate at your mess hall."

"I'll let him know you're looking forward to checking out his body." Hughes stood and put his pictures away.

"Major, would you like to come with me so we can do a post-op exam?" Riza asked and saw Maes grin. "Shut up Colonel."

"What? I wasn't going to say anything." Maes grinned.

"Is it normally this weird around here or are you just doing this for me?" Roy asked and tried to listen to where her voice was coming from.

"It's much worse." Riza reached for his hand and took it. He jumped, startled by the sudden touch. "Let's go Major, before he breaks out in song."

Roy realized she was going to lead him to the exam area by his hand. He tried to not squeeze it, but his other senses demanded he embrace the opportunity since his ears weren't all too thrilled with with want they were hearing. He swung his legs off the bed and paused. "So, since we've already gotten past the initial awkward conversations...I have a question to ask."

"Yeah, you'd make a cute couple." Maes said and grinned at Hawkeye.

"Ok, that makes what I'm going to ask pretty awkward. Thanks Colonel." Roy frowned.

"What is it Major?" Riza asked.

"Am I properly clothed for a venture around this hospital because I swear there is a breeze where there shouldn't be." Roy thought about recovering himself with his sheets.

Riza chuckled. "The nurses were rather excited to strip you down and give you a bath. Something about risk of infection from the debris embedded in your clothes. They are still swooning over your abs."

"To answer your question," Hughes bent down and whispered, "I made sure they at least left your boxers on. Man has to have a little mystery about him."

"Thanks." Roy don't feel any less violated. "Would it be an imposition to ask for my pants back? I'm pretty sure it won't be a hindrance to the care of  _my eyes_."

"But it's Pants Optional Wednesday!" Hughes slapped his shoulder when he saw the look on the man's face. "Go get your exam and I'm sure Dr. Hawkeye can help you get in your pants."

"Seriously Maes, I'm going to shoot you." Riza snapped as he turned and started laughing. He was already over checking on his next patient before she could hit him with the bedpan. She looked down at Mustang and realized he was still holding her hand. "Ready Major?"

"He didn't answer my question." He looked up, hoping he wasn't just staring at the ceiling and had pegged her position from her voice.

"You might want to hold your hospital gown shut with your other hand. Even boxers might be enough to send the nurses into fangirl mode."

"Thanks." He stood and did as she instructed and felt a gentle tug to guide him along to their destination. "You'll be my eyes, Hawkeye? You'll let me know if I'm in danger of being molested? Watch my back?"

She had to chuckle. "I'll try, Major."

Roy heard a whistle and a catcall from a voice that sounded like Barry as he was lead away by Hawkeye. He felt her guide him to a chair, something wooden and uncomfortable and put her hand on his shoulder encouraging him to sit down. "This is a different room?"

"The O.R. is in use by a few patients that needed to have some bleeding stopped and a new one who shot himself in the foot." Hawkeye went through the cabinets and found some fresh gauze. "You're in an exam room."

"Thank you."

She raised her eyebrows and unplugged one of the overhead lights. "I just want to check on your eyes, make sure I didn't miss anything and add more eye drops to keep you comfortable. Then I'll get you back to bed and have someone find you some pants. I'll check on you again in the morning."

Roy felt her hand on his chin, tilting his head back so she could see better. She cut the bandage off and removed the gauze pads. Gently she brushed away whatever was over his eye. Tears? Lint? Debris?

"Open your eye."

He saw her blur again. That fuzzy human shaped shadow hovering over him as his eyes begged him to stop subjecting them to the harsh air and muted light. Then a flash of light as the instrument she was using caused him to involuntarily try to slam his eyelid closed, but her fingers prevented it.

"So you can see the light then."

It was a statement, not a question. "Yes."

"Open your other eye."

He obeyed her order and once again the flash of light caused him to flinch, proving he could still see. "Thank you, Hawkeye."

"You're not out of the woods yet." She said and put down the medical tool to get his eye drops. "You're going to run the risk of infection and I can't guarantee that your vision will be 100 percent when it is restored. However you're not blind."

Roy sat in the chair patiently as she fiddled around with instruments and opening drawers for what he assumed were medical supplies. "You must have steady hands."

Riza cocked an eyebrow and looked over at Mustang lightly tapping the side of the chair with his fingers. He was trying hard to come up with a conversation starter. Earlier she ended their brief exchange by knocking him out with anesthesia.

"I could hear how tired you were in your voice." He cleared his throat. "To pull debris out of someone's eye you must have really steady hands."

"I'm tired because of all the casualties you send our way. How steady are your hands when you're working?" She couldn't believe she said that, but the words were already out of her mouth. She saw him react, then his shoulders sink a little. "Sorry..."

"I concentrate on the alchemy. The exothermic reaction requires my full attention, to locate my fuel source and target properly. My hands are steady, my eyes focused and my mind clear of anything but the alchemy."

"How convenient to be able to tune out the screams. Perhaps you can teach me now to do that." Riza bit her lip. Damn it was really two easy to snap at him.

Roy swallowed hard. Clearly she wasn't in the mood for small talk right now.

"I'm tired, Major, I'm also not here to be your friend. I'm here to make you a fully functioning weapon again." Riza closed her eyes. She couldn't let herself forget what this temporarily disabled man was capable of and  _why_  he was capable of it. Even if he seemed polite, maybe a little funny, he was only a visitor here. As soon as the eyes she just saved were ready, they would be focused on the destruction again. "I'll be right back with your eye drops, apparently someone didn't restock the cabinets after the last time the medication was required."

* * *

Urey Rockbell heard the exchange between Hawkeye and Mustang in the exam room as he cleaned up from surgery. He was actually surprised at how much they had talked already, Riza wasn't one to open up to a stranger, but it wasn't a pleasant conversation between two people. It was an emotionally charged discussion, laced with anger and guilt. It was making her more bitter and not helping her patient in the least. He heard the door swing open as he was washing his hands and decided it was time to step in before this could get out of hand. "Riza, can I get a consult?"

Sara could hear the tone in her husband's voice and knew he was planning to finally have the talk with Riza that she needed to hear. "It's Ok dear. I'll take care of the Major's medication. It's my fault, I forgot to replace what I used."

Riza watched her disappear into the exam room before she could protest. In the moment when the doors swung open she could see Mustang sitting in the chair, his attention suddenly peaked by the sound of the door opening. For all the criticisms she assaulted him with, he still seemed like he wanted her to come back. She looked through the Plexiglas window and saw his momentary confusion as Sara explained she was going to be seeing to his care. She could see Sara's smile and her hand lightly press him by the shoulder reassuring him, the good doctor who always was positive for her patients.

Urey dried off his hands. "You do know that young man isn't your father, despite being the Flame Alchemist. Right?"

Riza turned to him. So this was the consult? An intervention. "Or course I do, is this..."

"This is me getting tired of your lack of professionalism and you showing your youth and lack of training. Your personal life needs to stay outside these doors." He pointed to the emergency room door. "Inside you are impartial, your only concern should be your patient's life not his life choices."

She forgot sometimes that he was a father. There was no forgetting that now as his lecture made her feel like a little girl again.

"That's where doctors go bad. They let politics and religion and everything that this world wants to fight over step over this threshold with them and compromise their brain. The only thing that should come with you is medicine. Your patient is not good or evil, he is  _your patient_. You threw that one rule right out the window as soon as that young man showed up. For some reason he thinks he deserves your disapproval, which has only allowed you to let this escalate. This stops now or I'm taking him from you and placing him in Sara's care."

"You don't understand..."

"I understand perfectly. He's being honest, not fighting back. He's everything your father wasn't and you're taking advantage of that. Riza, stop punishing him for being Berthold Hawkeye's apprentice. Start realizing that that young man endured the same hell that you left."

She hadn't thought about that. Mustang stepped into that house and took her place.

"So, do we have an understanding?"

"Yes, sir." Riza nodded.


	3. Admission of Guilt

 

 

 

_Military Personnel_

Chapter 3

**Admission of Guilt**

* * *

"Hawkeye's not in trouble is she?" Roy asked as he could hear the raised voice in the next room, just not make out what he was saying. It wasn't Hughes. It was one of the other male doctors.

Sara sighed. Urey wanted Riza to put up a wall of professionalism between her and her patient, but in this instance Sara disagreed with her husband. She and Riza shared a tent and talked about everything. Lieutenant Catalina was the girl's best friend, but sometimes you needed someone who was a little more open to the bigger picture; not just  _your_  feelings. It's why she felt Mustang was a blessing, because he was allowing her to confront so many of her own demons. It wasn't like Riza to be hostile like this, she was cool and collected at all times. "Major, she's been a little...cruel to you when she should be building up your hope."

"I deserve it." Roy replied.

"She's got many unresolved issues with her father." Sara felt bad for this young man. He seemed to enjoy Riza's attacks, clearly his conscious was burdened with quite a bit. He was still looking towards the direction of the voices, tense and trying to determine what was going on.

"I gathered. However this is not about his choices, but mine. Nobody forced me to use his teachings this way." Roy responded, none too thrilled with the idea of discussing this with yet another person in this hospital.

She sighed. Clearly they both had unresolved issues. Berthold Hawkeye must have been one hell of a man to do so much damage to the young people who were close to him. She thought about her beloved daughter Winry and how they never let her forget how much they loved her. She couldn't imagine a parent wanting to see the despair in their child's eyes. However Winry's friend Edward had that bitter edge to him from being abandoned by his father. For a boy so young to know such a fierce emotion was a shame, especially when it was caused by a man who should have been protecting his children. She looked over her shoulder as Riza returned, her jaw set. She wanted her patient back. "Well, looks like you get your doctor back, Major."

Riza watched Sara set her eyedrops down and saw his eyebrows raise. He sat up straight and sat expectantly, waiting on her to return to his side. "Thank you Sara."

"No trouble, dear."

Roy wasn't too surprised when they sat in silence as she looked at his eyes again, applied the drops and then wiped his closed eye clean. He was surprised when she patted his hand. "Everything OK?"

"I've been rather unfair to you."

"Hawkeye..."

"I don't care what you think you deserve...the fact is that you deserve the best care no matter who you are or what decisions you made. I've failed you. Failed my profession..."

He put his hand over hers and squeezed. "I've needed someone to talk to and without your unguarded remarks I don't think I would have ever been honest with myself and spoken what was rotting away my insides. I feel compelled to explain myself to you, because you are his daughter. You do have every right to be furious with me for what I have done with your father's work."

She stared at his hands as he squeezed hers and rubbed his thumb absentmindedly over the back of her hand. Why was he comforting her? He was the one who was unable to see, his eyes were still in pain even with the anesthetic...yet here he was worried about her. "I...am not mad at you. I just am mad at him for leaving you with his legacy. Ruining your life with this work, just like he ruined ours."

"It was my choice." He replied softly. "I chose to study under him. I chose to join the military. I chose to follow orders."

"I'm lashing out at you because I..." She felt his reassuring squeeze. "I'm supposed to be a doctor. I thought I was better than him and yet I treated him the same way. I shut him out of my life and buried myself in my studies. I didn't look back on my obligations to my family, I didn't take the high ground...I took the same road he did with a different obsession. If I had gone home once, I could have seen he was sick. I could have used my skills...but instead I left him to die by himself. So I'm the hypocrite."

"He wouldn't have accepted your help and you know it."

"I should have tried." She drew a deep breath and started to carefully place gauze over his eyes and taped them in place while she wrapped his head with a bandage. "Now he's dead and time ran out to ask him...why. So I ask you instead, because if he trusted you with his secret...maybe you saw a side of him he never showed to me."

"To be honest, I'm glad you left." Roy said. "That man...wasn't right. His brain fractured, there was a disconnect between his work and his humanity. He preached the tired old rhetoric about how destructive flame alchemy was, how alchemy was for the people but in reality he was nothing but a hypocrite. If it was so destructive then why develop it to the the point where it could be harnessed? If it was about saving people why lock yourself away from the world in a run down old house? I can't picture you in that house...maybe as his servant but never as his daughter. Filial piety be damned, that man never came out of his own little world. You deserved a better childhood than that. I'm glad you got it."

"Major..."

"I want to sit here and tell you that he would have been proud of you, but I don't know if that emotion still resided in him. At least not the good version of Pride." He gave her a smile. "You sound tired. You should get some rest before another round of wounded comes in."

"Yeah, I'll check on you again when I wake up. If you experience an increase in pain, just call for a nurse and they'll find a doctor for you." She had enough of his company and the truth for the moment. Right now she wanted to put her head down and not wake up fro a day. She pulled the medical tape off his forehead, the pieces no longer needed to hold the gauze in place."I'll send Lieutenant Havoc in with your clothes."

He listened to her leave and contemplated what just happened. He wasn't even sure how long he had been here and doubted he had been knocked out that long after surgery. Granted he had been left to wait until all casualties were taken care of after his arrival, the surgery was probably intense with all the shrapnel in his eye and he was unconscious while recovering...so his concept of time was completely skewed. It wasn't like he could just look at his watch. Then the door swung open and he glanced over hoping he wasn't in for another round of Hughes's picture show.

"I hear that you are not interested in participating in Pants Optional Wednesday."

It was a male voice, from an individual that smelled like they bathed in nicotine. "Not really fair when I can't see everyone else's legs."

"You aren't missing much. I'm Jean, here to help you out with your wardrobe problem before you try to steal my girlfriend by walking around advertising your goods." Havoc smirked.

"You sound like a saint, even if you smell like a bar." Roy felt some clothes drop into his hands.

"I don't assist with this sort of thing. Really I am just doing a favor for Hawkeye." Havoc grunted. "So when you're done getting dressed give a shout and I'll come help you find your way back to your cot."

"I'd really like to get a breath of fresh air if you don't mind." Roy replied and stood up. "Your infirmary has some interesting characters I'm not quite in the mood to entertain."

"As odd as it sounds." Havoc snorted. "The antics help keep us sane."

The door closed and he was once again alone. He slipped into his pants and instantly felt more protected. Then he fought with the string on the gown and managed to get it off over his head without disturbing the bandage. He shook out the shirt and realized it was the one he must have come in with, it still had a smokey smell lingering on it. Then again, what garment in his possession didn't? He felt in his pockets and didn't feel any gloves or his watch, he hoped that it was stored away somewhere safe. "Havoc?"

"Yup." Jean pushed the door open and looked at the guy. "Bet you want shoes too?"

"I'd really like my gloves and watch."

"Hughes has them locked in his desk." Havoc pulled a cigarette out of his shirt pocket and placed it on his lips in anticipation of getting outside and smoking it. Your boots are probably under your cot. What are you in for, that they stripped you?"

"Eye injury."

"More like eye candy. God, these girls are shameless." Havoc snorted. "So do you want to hold my hand and make them jealous?"

"I'm having more problems coping with the help I get here than I am with my actual injury."

"Best care anywhere." Havoc said with a grunt. "So hurry up already, I want to get outside and smoke."

"I'll follow your voice."

"Super."

* * *

Roy coughed as a cloud of exhaled nicotine enshrouded his head. He felt the bench sag a little as another person sat beside him.

"So Mustang." Havoc puffed away and leaned back against the wall of the building. "I hear Hawkeye's been busting your balls non-stop."

"It's alright, I feel she's entitled to do so." Roy admitted. "I'm using her father's work here. I deserve it."

"Well if you get tired of it, come find us over by the motor pool. We got a still and some bitter ass moonshine. Helps drown out this hellhole a bit." Havoc offered

"Thanks." Roy kept his head forward, tired of trying to look at people when he knew he was just staring at something else. "Are you this friendly to all patients?"

"I drive the ambulance." Havoc blew out a smoke ring. "Those boys of yours told me what you did. Asked me to make sure you got taken care of for looking out for them."

"Oh." Roy thought the other soldiers were afraid of him. That was the funny part about war. One moment a pariah, the next a hero.

Riza came around the corner and sighed. "Trying to kill him with a different kind of smoke?"

"Giving him my sympathy for having to deal with your shitty bed side manner." Havoc smirked.

"Mind your own business Jean." Riza snapped.

"Really Riza, if you're going to use your mouth to bust a guys balls like that...wait til he can  _see you_  do it. Guys like a visual you know." He snorted as she slapped him in the head. "The whole damned camp is talking about what a bitch you are. Shit, Riza cut the guy some slack. He hasn't even been here a day!"

Roy felt the bench relax as the other man got up. "Thanks for defending my honor, Havoc"

"You showed me your legs, it's the least I can do." He blew smoke at Riza. "Don't let her get to you. She's just trying to avoid talking to a shrink about her Daddy issues."

"Jean." Riza took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I told Rebecca about seeing you with that nurse."

"I bet you are now." He winked.

"I thought you were going to get some rest." Roy said, not quite willing to give up his freedom yet.

"I was on my way to my tent and I saw you two sitting out here." She said and gave Havoc a scowl. "You need to be in the infirmary. What part of 'risk of infection' did you not understand Major?"

"My eyes are protected." Roy weakly protested.

"I don't care." She said coldly. "Get back to bed."

"Nice way to talk to a superior officer, Hawkeye." Havoc took a long drag on his cigarette.

"Get him back to bed,  _Lieutenant_." Riza shook her head and waited for Havoc to escort the Major back into the infirmary

"Yes, ma'am." Havoc grinned and tugged on Mustang's sleeve.

* * *

Riza wasn't even sure what day it was when she woke up. She looked over at her clock and rubbed her eyes. Then she saw the face of her best friend peering over the makeshift nightstand to look at her.

Rebecca Catalina was dying to hear about the patient that managed to make Riza lose her cool just by existing. "So, I hear Mustang got you all worked up."

"Ugh." Riza rolled over and pulled the pillow over her head. "Go away."

"Riza Hawkeye." Rebecca said with as much authority in her voice as she could muster for her lecture. "You're never going to get yourself a husband if you..."

Riza pulled the pillow off her head and whipped it around and slammed it into Rebecca's face. "What is wrong with everyone here!? I'm not here to hunt for a husband! I'm here to sew bodies back together."

Rebecca wrestled the pillow away and tossed it over her shoulder. "Everyone's talking about he you're verbally disemboweling your Daddy's apprentice. Holy shit Riz, this isn't like you!"

"Well what did you want me to say?" Riza sat up and pushed her messy hair out of her face. "Oh, don't worry that you are using my family secret to destroy everything you come across. I'm sure you had good intentions, especially since you joined the military and offered your services to them. I mean, our government would never do anything bad with something so powerful, I'm sure you're just  _so_  misunderstood."

"Glad you had time to sleep on it." Rebecca rolled her eyes. "You know he got injured saving his men right?"

"After he destroyed a village."

"An enemy village." Rebecca reminded her. "We are at war, remember?"

"I forgot." Riza said dryly. "I thought everyone was just super clumsy around here and got injured en mass."

"Well since you care so little for the guy, I guess it won't bother you that we lost him." Rebecca scooted away from her, ready to be smacked for delivering the news.

Riza stared at her. "What?"

Rebecca gave her a smile. "Well, he's sort of missing. Jean went to see if he was interested in drinking with us...perhaps he had already been drinking a bit too much because when he came back to the motor pool he...didn't realize he lost the blind guy."

Riza clenched her fists. "I told them both that Mustang needed to _stay_  in the infirmary."

"Well you know how well guys listen." Rebecca smiled. "And we were going to give him some of that shine we've been brewing. It's antiseptic."

"This whole camp is a septic field, that's why I want him in the mildly sterile infirmary!" She threw her sheets off and growled. "I swear, if he takes off his bandage and ruins his eyes I'm court-martialling Havoc."

"This is why we take people's pants." Rebecca said.

"Is it Thursday already?" Riza asked. How bad was it that they only knew the days of the week thanks to the insane games they played around here. Take Pants Thursday, which usually started with stealing someone's pants and then panting before getting them back on. She had a sneaking suspicion Barry was behind all these readily adopted traditions.

"He likes you." Rebecca said with a chuckle. "He'll probably come when you call him."

* * *

Roy sat up and tried to rub his eyes again. His heart was racing from the nightmare and there was an extra burst of panic from being blindfolded when he woke up. He tried to tear through the wrap around his eyes and then remembered what happened. He tried to calm down, tried to get his bearings but then he remembered he was lost. How the hell did you get lost in a medical camp?

He could really feel his eyes burning now, a reminder that reality wasn't exactly an upgrade from his nightmares. In his dreams, he could _see_  even if it was terror stricken eyes, charred and bubbling skin and the smoldering ruins of a family's home. He woke and found nothing but darkness, pain, confusion and panic. It was even more sickening that there was comfort in the memories of his handiwork, because at least he had some sort of control and confidence. Now, he was lost, unsure where the hell he was and unable to do anything but wait for help.

Last night he tried to get out of this tent to no avail. He tripped over some mound of putrid cloth, perhaps bed sheets or a corpse wrapped in bed sheets. He finally gave up getting out, he could hear music blaring and the rumble of diesel engines and knew nobody would hear his call for assistance. Not that he wanted to scream for help, he still had a touch of dignity left.

"What are you doing ?" Riza snapped as she finally found her escaped patient.

Well there went that shred of dignity. He tried to put on a confident face, not one of a helpless child lost in a department store. Roy felt the textiles beneath him and replied, "Possibly sitting on a hide of some kind? Hoping and praying I didn't end up in Barry's room."

"Just blankets." Riza frowned. "Unfortunately the quartermaster doesn't believe that he should give us decent blankets since our patients are just going to bleed on them."

"Are they made of blended varmint hair?" He asked as she reached over and touched his arm.

"Major, please stop trying to defuse my anger. You are wandering around camp blind without supervision. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I needed to feel, smell and hear something other than the injured and dying. My sight has been taken from me. I'm disoriented, accosted by the sounds of wounded, the smells of blood and infection. It's like being in a nightmare you can never wake up from because all that greets you is darkness." He could definitely feel her staring at him. God, why the hell did he tell her everything? Maybe it was a dire need to have her forgiveness for his sins, all the blood on his hands caused by a simple snap of the fingers. Or he was rambling because he wanted to win her over and make sure she didn't leave him here for another few hours. Or maybe they both knew how little time he had here, that at any moment the orders to move him could come down from the top and he'd miss his chance.

"You're sweating profusely, you could have a fever." She pressed the back of her hand to his brow.

"It's terrifying to close your eves and see what I normal dream..." He felt her brush his sweat soaked hair back from his forehead. "I panicked when I couldn't open my eyes and assure myself it was just a dream. You don't realize how much you depend on your sight to keep you grounded in reality."

She sat down. He was rather chatty, talking quickly trying to cover up his anxiety. So she might as well talk. "Why did you bring my father's curse to another generation of victims on the battlefield?"

"I was naïve. I wanted to protect my country, I thought that was the role our government played." He frowned. "Perhaps that's why I've lost my vision, because I never used it to begin with. I was a myopic idiot."

"You're right." She said and watched him deflate. "You are an idiot. However you are not going to lose your vision, not on my watch."

He turned to her and smiled. "Even if I keep wandering out of the hospital? You'll keep following me to make sure I don't touch my bandage?"

"Even into hell. You are my responsibility until I discharge you." She said and stood up. "However I have other ways of making sure you don't get up and leave before I sign your release form."

"Oh?" He looked up, following her voice and trying to hone that skill of auditory targeting any chance he could.

"I'll just take your pants."

"Well...I guess...if it's my doctor's orders."

"Major, even you won't be brave enough to venture out of the infirmary in an open back hospital gown. There are fangirls lurking in the shadows of every tent."

"Speaking of tents..where the hell am I?"

"The laundry tent. What exactly were you looking for?" Riza asked, curious how the hell he landed himself here.

"Lieutenant Havoc said they made a still out of medical supplies and offered me a drink. I tried following the smoke smell as he walked through camp, but I got misdirected. In my defense, this tent smells like a tobacco barn. Can I buy you a drink Hawkeye?"

"Do you really want your usable senses dulled that much?" She asked, curious what her patient was enduring. More concerned now because she saw the familiar path her father had traveled. It might be time to call in the shrink. Mustang had been here a day and as she continued to engage him in conversation it was apparent that this went well beyond her expertise.

"Yeah. I'd like to get some sleep."

"I can prescribe you something that won't leave you with a hangover."

"I like the punishment after...it reminds me that there is a cost for every action." Roy admitted.

"Equivalent exchange? Your mental anguish in exchange for a gruesome migraine?" She asked and saw his flicker of a smile, the excitement of knowing there was someone else who spoke his language.

She was her father's daughter. No question about that. "Can I share a little secret with you?"

"As long as it isn't Flame Alchemy." She said coldly. She just woke up, spent half an hour looking for him and then he's in here having a breakdown on top of unwashed blankets. Last thing she really wanted was to drink with this idiot, or be nice to him. He was determined to undermine her work. It was hard though, his honesty just made her want to like him.

Damn, she really did a better job of burning him with her words than Master Hawkeye ever did with his snide insults. He was wise enough to not tell her that. "I'm a State Alchemist, I had to undergo rather intense psychological scrutiny to even be considered to take the first part of my exam and it's actually a requirement for my continued service."

"That's hardly a secret."

He smiled at her. "I know you're trying to engage me in conversation so that you can keep the shrinks at bay, trying to assure Central that you are more than capable of handling the situation with basic patient care. They're not going to buy it. Unfortunately I'm too valuable of an asset to not monitor, especially when I've already shown signs of cracking and my loss of sight might be the final fissure the levy requires to break. I won't mention you're connected to my alchemy in any way. I have become a decent master of conversation manipulation and can distract more people with a tiny bit of truth they consider the mother load."

She frowned. "I'm not worried about me, I'm worried that you are showing signs of mental stress that..."

"Define me. That myopic idiot is long dead, buried under the bloated, burnt and innocent corpses of thousands. Without pain...nothing can be gained."

"My God, why did he condemn you to this?" She whispered. Why did her father teach him!?

"It was his life's work, he was an alchemist. All of us specializing in these destructive and morally ambiguous fields of alchemy are defying God. Seeking a Truth he has hidden from us for a reason and when we find that Truth it takes something from us that we took for granted. We're a select group of selfish fools who are too proud to admit our mistake and instead seek to elevate ourselves closer to God using the stupidity and defiance of our work. So to destroy his work, to allow the secrets to go to the grave with him...would have erased his impact on this Earth. Pride, that's what condemned us both."

She wanted to hate him, but she saw a man now that struggled with his decision to learn from her father. In the drive for knowledge, Berthold Hawkeye refused to acknowledge anything but the end goal. He ignored everything else, success being the only acceptable result and everything else an obstacle in his path. He wasn't the kind of alchemist who would appreciate questions, especially about the merit of his work, so she could see where Mustang would have been shut down if he dared question his Master. How he too would have hoped that the enlightenment after accomplishing his studies would have been what he needed to explain everything. Who could he talk to? Who else would understand what went on in that house other than someone who had to endure it as well? It's why all the other apprentices left, they were old enough to see the abusive relationship and get out. Mustang was probably too young, too desperate and perhaps without a direction. He suffered through it and in the end only found more suffering. "Let's go get that drink."

He felt her pull his arm, attempting to lead him to his original destination but hesitated a moment as he felt the scratchy blanket again. He wanted to find warmth in the form of moonshine and try to not cling to the woman in front of him charged with his care. He didn't know why he felt like he needed to explain himself to her, perhaps because he felt like she was the guardian of the skill he wielded. That her criticisms were well deserved and that she deserved answers in return. Answers that shed light on why her house was devoid of the warmth of a family, how the burden of Flame Alchemy numbed you to warmth.

"Major?"

He stood as she tugged his arm and smiled. "Lead the way."

She she took his hand and wondered if perhaps his brief stay here was a way for both of them to make sense of a confusing part of their past. How two intelligent people, one a doctor and another an alchemist, could still be haunted by the dead man who was the reason they both submerged themselves in their studies and nothing else. How there was no way to understand how an adult they were both supposed to trust to develop them into functional members of society, only taught them how to pretend that they weren't still terrified of his disapproval.


	4. Healing

 

 

 

_Military Personnel_

Chapter 4

**Healing**

* * *

"Why did you become a Doctor?" Roy asked and listened to her shuffle around the operating room picking up supplies and shaking a bottle of eye drops. He was glad she always brought him in here by himself, she stated she wanted as little contamination as possible but he knew it was because she didn't want the entire camp to hear about her father. Clearly that was more important than the rumors floating around that she was taking advantage of a private showing of the Flame Alchemist and writing it off as 'playing doctor'. Rumors it seemed came from her two closest friends, Hughes and Catalina.

"I suppose my upbringing did have an effect on me. I learned that alchemy was supposed to be for helping people. I learned the transmutation sequence, chemistry and equivalent exchange. Believe it or not, my father did actually teach me quite a bit." Riza sighed. "Until he let his research consume him. Then he became focused on how he didn't hold himself to a high enough standard, how my mother died and his research remained unfinished because he wasn't hard enough on himself. So, eventually that took over and he demanded excellence. I'm sure you dealt with that, how he could never just allow you a victory and encourage you for progress. He just made you feel inadequate."

"Why didn't he teach you alchemy?"

"He tried, I didn't have a talent for it. I understood what he taught me, I just didn't have the capacity to manipulate matter that was needed. That's when I think he gave up on me. That I was another piece of evidence of his failure. He made sure I knew it too." Riza walked over and put the medication down on the table. "It was all relevant to medicine. Comprehending the structure and properties of the body and it's components as well as the flow of blood and interaction of all the different systems working within the body. Then as a surgeon I can deconstruct and reconstruct while all the while having to be aware of the effect my work has on the body. It's just like alchemy, except...I get my hands bloody."

Roy remained quiet as she took his wrist and checked his pulse. He thought about her statement and it made perfect sense. Really it was a excellent description of how Berthold Hawkeye's teachings could lead her down this path to medicine. As soon as she let go and scratched out his information on the sheet he asked, "Then your choice to pursue medicine...was it because of your mother?"

"Her death made me question everything, especially alchemy. How my father could boast such power but still be unable to save her. He was clueless. He had no idea how a human body worked, only what his obsession was. I found out later he didn't know about anything else as my Mother handled everything from the household, to finances to him. He locked himself away, buried himself in research to pass the time when he'd see her again and I had to figure it all out for myself. I went through my mother's things and found out she really did have family. So I wrote them to let them know she was gone. When I got a letter back, it was accompanied with a train ticket to East City where my Grandfather lived. He wanted to meet me and explain why he wasn't a part of my life. I told my father and he just told me to 'Do whatever you please' and I did just that. "

"Your grandfather, offered to send you to school?" Roy asked, he was so curious about her. He only knew Hawkeye as the hermit, the bitter widower who personified the textbook alchemists. Huddled over his desk by the flickering candlelight, scratching out formulas, never needing anything but his work to satisfy him. He couldn't imagine someone leaving their daughter to fend for herself like that, but from what she told him already, it seemed like she had already been doing that in the house. He just thought he treated his students harshly, but apparently he didn't know compassion anymore. There was no pleasing the man, no positive reinforcement just a harsh reminder that perfection was the only acceptable way.

"Yes." She didn't know why she kept telling him everything. Maybe it was because he seemed to genuinely care, he needed to try and make sense of a Master who made very little sense. Maybe because she knew he'd be gone soon and they both needed this off their chest. She gently tilted his head back and examined his eye. Yes, he would definitely be gone soon, he was recovering quickly and bandages would be off in two days."He wanted me to know I could still have a family, that my father didn't deserve to let me whither away just like my mother did. Just because I couldn't understand alchemy didn't mean I wasn't going to be great at something."

"That must have been shocking to hear." Roy said it thoughtfully and tried to hold steady as the eye drops flooded his eye and caused him to twitch. She was quick and before he could blink the drops around she already had his other eyelid forced open and the drops dispensed. "I can't imagine your father even having those encouraging words in his vocabulary."

Riza smiled. "It really was overwhelming, the city, Grandfather's huge home filled with warmth and his encouragement...when I went home it was so painfully obvious what that dungeon was. So, I packed up and told him I was leaving. He just kept working and said 'Do whatever you please'. Last words he ever said to me."

Roy could hear her picking up her stethoscope and took the opportunity to wipe teary medicated mess from his cheeks.. "You changed your name though?"

"I wanted to leave everything behind me. I didn't want to look back...I didn't want to turn back. It wasn't easy to do that, I wanted to run back to the comforts of home even if it was cold and miserable. It's all I had ever known. So when Grandfather told me my mother gave me her mother's name...I felt so guilty. I had just abandoned the man she left her family for. It hurt more than anything and I guess he saw that. He saw I was going to run back home and wait until I was forced to leave, so he just chuckled and said , "Well that's hardly a good name for a young girl these days. What about a nickname? Liza? Liz?"" Hawkeye toyed with the earpieces of the stethoscope and bit her lip. "So I changed my name to Riza. Nobody's called me Elizabeth since."

"Until I came here."

"You Major, are full of surprises." She said and blushed a little realizing that sounded a little too warm and flirty. She was glad he couldn't see her.

"So are you Dr. Hawkeye."

His voice flustered her more than it should still. "I've been nothing but mean to you, how can you be so kind to me?"

"I deserve all of it."

"No you don't." She grabbed his hand. "You're not like the other alchemists who come through here. Obsessed with their work, not seeing these people as victims or test subjects. All they care about is results."

"So do I."

"You care about the resulting carnage, not how failed to reach some level of explosion that made your eardrums tingle at the right pitch." She replied bitterly.

"Oh, so you've me Kimblee."

"And several others." She squeezed his hand. "Promise me you won't become like them."

"If I do, you have my permission to shoot me in the head."

"Not after all the work I've been doing to save your stupid eyesight." She put her stethoscope down and began to reapply his bandage. "Don't be an idiot."

"You still seem...loyal to your Father even if you left. Your disgust at my usage of Flame Alchemy, changing your name...being upset at yourself for not going home to save him. Hawkeye, you confuse me as much as he did."

"Family isn't something you can turn your back on so easily." She said quietly. "He was my Father. Don't you feel like you owe your Father some degree of loyalty?"

"Not really, I never knew him that well. My parents were killed when I was young." He thought about loyalty, how people like Alex Armstrong prided themselves on their family name and history. "I guess I don't really have an impressive lineage or tradition to uphold. I'm half-Xingese, I don't remember my father well enough to feel compelled to honor the family name and my Aunt Chris, who raised me, stressed pretty heavily she wanted me to be a good man. I suppose when you run a brothel you see a lot of the worst of society. If anything I don't want to disappoint her. I wanted to be the kind of man who stands up for what is right, protects those who need to be protected, treats people with respect and decency. Yet here I am, going against all of that."

Riza raised her eyebrows. "You protected a group of soldiers under your command. Putting yourself in danger in the process, Major I don't see how you can call that a disappointment."

"There you go, confusing me again Hawkeye. You're capable of the most scathing remarks about how I misuse your family secret and then the next you compliment my character for how I utilize it."

"I'm sorry." She shook her head. "I'm not sure how I really feel about any of it anymore. I'm overwhelmed. I can see the destruction and misuse of alchemy, but at the same time I know it's not your choice. You have no choice but to follow orders yet...you still put yourself in this situation and follow through with something you don't believe in."

"Welcome to my world." He hung his head and went to rub his eyes, only to have her smack his hand.

"No rubbing your eyes!"

"Sorry."

She put her hand on his knee. "I couldn't respect you if you disobeyed orders because you're a soldier and that is your job. "

"I was naïve." He admitted. "I wanted to protect my country and with it the few people I held dear. If maybe someone had been there to protect my family, I might still have my parents. Instead I worked do damned hard so I could be here...destroying other people's families. It is the job I chose."

"As I chose this one to save people." She took his hand and squeezed it. "You are protecting people Roy Mustang. You protect the soldiers who don't have to go get shot at because of what you can do. You saved your own men, risking your vision and life's work to do so. You're protecting plenty of people. It isn't your decision to be here."

"There you go complimenting me again." He said and smiled.

"You are a good man." She squeezed his hand. He was nothing like the other alchemists or even half the officers that came through here. "I am sorry for being so cold to you. It's been hard to get past the fact that my Father never wanted to see his work used this way, but he could be incredibly myopic and apparently so can I."

"I..."

"Don't deserve it. Stop saying that." She sighed. "You don't deserve any of this. Nobody does."

"Yet soon this bandage comes off and next week I go back to work."

"Yes." Riza replied softly.

"Will...you go for a walk with me? After we're done with the medication? I'd like to get outside."

"We can do that."

"As Riza, not my doctor?"

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

"I did that yesterday when you yelled at me in the laundry, but then you left after you dropped me off with a bunch of drunks..."

"When you weren't looking?" Riza said with some humor to her voice.

"Funny." He said and smiled.

"Well, I'd never been on a blind date before."

Roy chuckled. "Just don't let me have any more of that 'shine, When I get my eyesight back I think I'll have a look at that still and maybe give them some suggestions."

" _Attention All Military Personnel! Incoming wounded. Please take your pants back and prepare to play doctor again."_

Roy frowned. "So much for our date."

Riza sighed. "I'm going to move you from the infirmary since we're going to need your bed for someone else. The only moderately clean place left is Hughes's office."

"Here I was beginning to think you were done torturing me." Roy pouted.

"Major," She paused as she held the remains of the new bandage in her hands and looked at him. "I'm sorry. I have a lot of anger and outrage that I have never really been able to talk about before and you set me off. Especially after all the wounded you've sent our way, how reports were filing in here about how the Flame Alchemist was responsible and that made it my burden too. "

"What do you mean responsible?" He asked. "Have I...injured our own men?"

Riza bit her lip. "No, we have been treating survivors."

"You've been treating the enemy?" Roy asked incredulously.

She swallowed hard. "We took an oath and I don't recall it saying I had to discriminate based on uniform, skin or eye color. "

"Hawkeye..."

"This is an extermination campaign." She said coldly. "Label it what you will, but Amestris started this war to wipe out an entire race of people. I don't care if they are fighting back! Who wouldn't fight to defend their families, way of life and right to exist?"

"That's treason." He said it simply. They both knew what it was.

"Major, I am not an army doctor. The Rockbells aren't either. We are drafted civilian surgeons and we are doing our job, that just isn't the one the army forced on us. I may be wearing a uniform, I may be commissioned a Captain, but I am not going to swallow my humanity and turn away a patient." She sat down and watched him struggle with this information, now burdened with more dangerous knowledge. "If I was...I would have refused to treat you."

He was speechless. "You saved me knowing you were going to return me to the front. Burdening yourself with what I do..."

"It already was a burden." She said softly and her hand shook as she remembered hovering over his eye, thinking that the slightest slip of her hand would push a fragment deeper and permanently destroy his vision. "You, you made me question my resolve. You were on that table and I considered...I really considered it. The secret of Flame Alchemy was supposed to stay in that house, a curse for my family to bear and then you show up. You show up and prove my father right, that this is the most dangerous weapon a single man can wield. So I thought about it, disabling the weapon my father made."

He heard the rustling and voices of people clearly preparing for work as casualties were on the way. It signified the end of the discussion as the operating room door opened and a new voice, more of a monotone drone, broke the silence.

"Major Mustang!" Frank Archer said as he walked over with a scrutinizing glance of the young man seated on the table. This was the guy everyone was fussing over? "I finally get to meet you. I'm Major Frank Archer, unlike these other doctors I actually am a regular Army surgeon. I have to say, it is an honor to meet such a valiant solider, a man who clearly understands what waging war means."

Roy's stomach turned and he resisted the urge to smack away the cold hand that reached out to take his. However Archer still grabbed it and shook it.

"An real honor sir. Perhaps if we find some time after we send these wounded back to the front I'd love to share a drink with the famed Hero of Ishval." Frank beamed.

"Who?" Roy asked. Who the hell was this asshole?

"You. That's what they're calling you.  _Hero of Ishval_." Archer said and took in a deep breath, chest puffed up like he was on the parade ground instead of the mobile hospital's squeaky wooden floor. "For your valor, saving your own men like you did."

"I was under the impression that my stay here was to be kept secret." Roy replied. "That all the details of that operation were to be kept quiet."

"Well someone talked to the press, singing your praises." Archer said and watched the man's reaction. "It came across the wire a few hours ago. They didn't disclose the severity of your injury or location. However rumor has it your are already on the list for a Purple Heart and Medal of Honor for your actions."

Riza watched his expression sour and at that moment knew that this man was still capable of compassion and humility, he wasn't her father. "Frank, stop bothering my patient. Go scrub up and let me finish."

Roy suddenly felt the realm of responsibility and the weight of his military position closing in around him. He didn't appreciate the honors he didn't deserve, but he was downright furious he was being used to boost morale in some distorted show of might and pride by the powers above him. Still, even after six years of war, the desk Generals in Central underestimated the enemy. "I need to find out how compromised I am. If my injury has been leaked, it's not going to take a genius to figure out where I'd be sent. You have incoming wounded, do you know from where?"

Riza suddenly saw the military man emerge, something she took for granted. She assumed, being a State Alchemist, he was just awarded his rank like all the others. Mustang's voice had a demand to it, a sense of urgency that made Frank suddenly stumble over his next words.

"I...don't know."

"I need to know." Roy said. "Is Lieutenant Colonel Hughes around? I need to make him aware that my presence here may be putting his command in danger."

"I won't have you moved." Riza snapped defiantly.

"Hawkeye, I'm just one man. I'm not worth endangering your entire camp for. If the enemy has been able to able to discern my location, they will attack."

"A hospital?" Riza said and shook her head. "No, the Ishvalians are not going to do that. Even if you are the Flame Alchemist."

"Aurego rebels that have been aiding the Ishvalians would have no problem with it. They will seize the opportunity to eliminate me if it has presented itself." Roy slide off the table. "They're more than aware that Amestris's display of what alchemy can do on the battlefield is a threat to their country. They care little about Ishval, they care about doing as much damage to us as possible under the guise of humanitarian assistance. No, I need to talk to Hughes, now."

"He's scrubbing up." Frank replied. "I'll go get him for you sir."


	5. Vision

 

 

 

_Military Personnel_

Chapter 5

**Vision**

* * *

The last two days had been another round of wounded who kept all the doctors of MASH 611 up for over a day putting bodies back together. Mustang had spent the time in Hughes's office, assuming command of the office and along with it the young radio operator Sgt. Fuery. The kid was great at code and managed to get his messages to field command, East City office and even to Central to express his concerns about the news of his injury being leaked. He had been assured that the press release was didn't put the hospital at risk. _Oh, and congratulations Major Mustang. There certainly will be a promotion and a bright future ahead for great officer like yourself._

Roy knew Fuery didn't understand his anger, the kid had already expressed his admiration and excitement at helping a war hero. Fuery even wrote his Mom to tell her about how he helped the nation's hero but he promised to not send it until Mustang was back to work. Roy hoped the kid would go home after this war was over, but it seemed he had found a calling with technology. It sounded like he was young enough to still be sleeping with a teddy bear.

The words from Roy's superiors did little to ease his worry. He was scheduled to be released soon, but if a unit had been mobilized to eliminate him there was a chance it would get here late. Hawkeye's words stuck with him and he had a bad feeling that  _maybe_  someone did find out about their side activities helping Ishvalians. He just wasn't sure what to do about it because she wouldn't listen and he wouldn't be here to protect anyone in a few days.

Still, despite her unending flow of patients, Hawkeye still came to treat him on her breaks. They argued, he insisted she should get some rest and just leave it to someone else. She told him to shut up and be a good patient for once and let her get him taken care of so she could rest. Fuery would leave them alone for a few minutes, muttering about how they argued like his parents. She was exhausted and he was incredibly worried about the war coming to them in the form of artillery and not casualties. So there was a truce. No accusations, no confessions and no earth shattering revelations. Just coffee that tasted like boiled shoes and two people who talked about anything but the war, their jobs or their past until she finally gave into the need for sleep and crawled into his cot. He sat there and listened to her sleep, his heightened senses finally coming in handy for something.

So here they were now that the flood of wounded had ebbed and he finally got her to take him outside for a walk like she promised. In a few hours she would take off his bandage and the countdown to his departure would accelerate. The inevitable was lingering on both their minds and he suddenly understand why so many soldiers acted on impulses. How you could rationalize the heightened emotions caused by war but still indulge anyway. He already determined that he would kiss her goodbye, as unprofessional as it was. There was too much of themselves laid out for examination during his brief stay here and he didn't want it filed away as doctor-patient privileged, he wanted to leave it as an open invitation to do it again if the need arose.

He heard her coming, she had lead him to this rise above the camp and set him down for a few minutes while she went back for coffee. He felt the warm cup pressed into his hand as she took a seat beside him. "Four Days and I feel like it's been a lifetime."

Riza looked at him as he sat against the ammunition crate and brought his coffee cup to his lips. "Didn't realize I was that much of a bore."

He paused and turned to her voice. "Riza, I didn't mean it like that. It's surreal, not being able to see anything and being removed from the war for this brief time, it feels like a dream. Then there's you...and the four days that I've spent getting to know you. I never in my life felt so comfortable with someone so quickly, especially someone who started off hating me."

She reached over and pushed a lock of his hair away from the bandage over his eyes. "I was wrong. I thought you'd be...a monster. I had no idea that Flame Alchemy would be your curse, just as it was my father's."

"I feel like we've know each other forever, it's been less than a week." Roy sipped his coffee and swallowed. "This coffee tastes like shit, but at least the company is great."

"Best care anywhere." She mumbled the company motto and stopped playing with his hair. This afternoon she'd take his bandage off and by next week he'd be back on the front lines. She didn't want him to leave, he wasn't the only one feeling so quickly attached.

He reached over and took her hand, brought it to his lips and placed a light kiss on her knuckles. "I can't tell you how thankful I am for that. How thankful I am for you."

"Roy..."

"Riza, to suddenly be surrounded by darkness and pain...and to see you through my blurry vision that first day. You really are an angel. I wish...I wasn't the devil."

She was afraid that when he could actually see her that he wouldn't like what he saw. She wasn't some pin-up girl, she was just a young, worn out doctor who rarely got to shower regularly. "You've got a good heart Roy. Just remember that when you struggle with what you've been required to do. Remember that you didn't enjoy it."

"Is that your qualified medical opinion?" He asked. "If so, I'd like to insist that you actually listen to my heart before you tell me that it's in decent shape."

His grin told her that he was hoping for her snappy comeback, that he didn't want to start down that road of conversation again. He didn't want to talk about what weighed on him anymore, not when he was going to be returning to that life in a few days. So in a move that was more forward than she had ever thought herself capable of, she crawled over and straddled his lap. "Can't have you insulting my professionalism, I guess I'll have to take a listen."

He swallowed hard as her fingers started to unbutton his collared shirt. He felt her every move, his sight sensory deprivation really did enhance his other senses in this short time. Her fingers slowly worked their way down to his abdomen, unbuttoning along the way. He wisely said nothing, but set his steaming hot coffee down before the nasty acidic substance could ruin more than his taste buds.

Riza let her hand rest on his surprisingly defined abs before pushing his shirt out of the way and exposing his chest. "I didn't come prepared, I don't have my stethoscope on me."

Roy thought that would be the end of it, that she was just teasing him as punishment for insulting her. Then he jumped as he felt her breath on his skin and then she pressed her ear to his chest.

"Hmmm...heart rate is a bit fast." She closed her eyes as she listened to his heart quicken in reaction to her touch.

He let his hands cautiously reach out for her. Last thing he wanted was to poke of grab something he shouldn't while she was initiating this. Then her hand snaked under his shirt and rubbed his chest and his hands threw caution to the wind and latched on to her hips. He let one trace her spine up to her neck, then his fingers followed the line of her jaw so he could grasp her chin and lift her up to face him.

Riza sat up as his hand caressed her jaw, she puckered her lips slightly in anticipation of his kiss. He was being very cautious, paranoid that he'd miss because he couldn't see what he was doing. His finger traced her lip and she caught her breath as he leaned forward and their lips met.

As soon as he discovered that he had indeed found her lips and didn't place a kiss on her nostril or poke her eye out, he let his hand go back to her neck. He was surprised at how quickly she took his face in her hands, how her kiss intensified as she pushed him back against the crate and how damned right it felt to have her pressed against him.

Riza felt her own heart being to race as he broke off his kiss to lay light kisses across her cheek, jawbone and finally trail down her neck. His right hand cupped her jaw and his thumb played with her earlobe as his left squeezed her hip where it had originally landed. "Roy...we can't do this here."

He stopped and put his head against her shoulder.

"The whole damned camp can see us, get behind the crates." She turned to look at his surprise, eyebrows peaking out from under the bandage and his mouth slightly open. He was so expressive, she couldn't wait to see what his eyes would add to his gorgeous face. "Are you going to follow me?

"Do you even have to ask?" He raised his eyebrows as she hopped off him and disappeared. "Riza, I can't see, do you really want me to start feeling my way around?"

She finished checking the location to ensure they were out of view and went back to grab his hand. "What are you going to do without me next week?"

He squeezed her hand and quietly said, "I...don't know. I know that there is someone I have to protect and...that will make it easier. I'm going to finally do what your father asked me to do, protect his daughter."

"Roy.."

"I'll fight, I'll go back out there to bring a swift end to this conflict and when it's all over I know you'll finally be able to go back to the life you wanted and leave this hell behind you." Roy swallowed hard. He wondered if he was also part of this hell she wanted to forget.

"Do you think this blood washes off my hands that easily?" Riza asked.

"I know it won't." He felt a tug and crawled around the back of the crate and she met him with a kiss. "Please tell me I can write you and when this is all over I can see you again."

"You can't see me now." Riza quipped.

He smirked, "I like this playful side of you better. The insults are much funnier."

She chuckled and he used it to locate her and take her face in is hand to guide his lips to hers once more. This was stupid, she knew he would be gone soon. Why the hell was she torturing herself with him? It didn't matter, for the moment there wasn't a war or a sick bay full of moaning men, there was just the two of them embracing in the sands of a hell neither of them would ever forget. She just needed something, something to think about at night that would put the horrible nightmares off for just a little while. She knew he needed the same, so she indulged in the inhibitions of the moment because she wanted to feel young again. Hell, she just wanted to feel her age for a little while.

* * *

"It's awfully quiet in here." Roy said as she lead him into the exam room after their little escape.

He felt like a teenager again, kissing a girl for the better part of an hour, but it was certainly a lot better than what he had originally planned. A simple soft kiss on the lips before he left paled in comparison to what Riza had planned. He didn't think he could have a glow about him after something so simple as kissing. That her lips, her nibbles and nips, could leave him breathless and needing time to compose himself before coming back to camp. He couldn't tell if she was flustered, or even if she cared what her friends where giggling about, he just couldn't believe he was disappointed about finally getting his bandage removed.

"It's a bandage, I don't think I need to be supervised to take it off." Riza replied when she heard Hughes holler, 'Bet that's not the only thing you want to take off!'.

Roy gave her a smile. "He's pushy."

"You have no idea." She felt his hand on hers and she didn't know why she was so nervous about this. It was more than finding out if his sight would be reduced, she was more afraid of him not liking what he saw.

"Riza. What's wrong?"

He could feel her emotions which scared her and also fluttered something deep down in her. Rationally she knew he was in tune to the inflection of her voice, but she wasn't exactly thinking rationally around him anymore. She knew that what was really bothering her was not his eyes, sight or job. It was that he was going to leave and this week would be just a side note in his career and life. This hospital saw it's share of trysts, soldiers living for the moment and taking whatever human interaction they could get.

"Riza. Talk to me."

His voice was so soothing, so warm and honest. She didn't want to force him to lie, to do the nice thing and tell her that he'd write or call. She was about to say something but heard a whistle and her heart stopped. She knew what an incoming shell sounded like. Before she could say anything, he had his arms wrapped around her and was throwing them both to the floor.

The shell hit the main camp and was promptly followed by another. The ground shook and they could heard the screams, the siren blaring and the PA cracking to life as Fuery told them all what was going on. MASH 611 was under attack.

"That's a tank." Roy said into her ear as he lie on top of her. "Two tanks."

She had been close to the front lines long enough to have been exposed to enemy fire. She was still shocked, Ishvalians didn't attack hospitals. Amestrians did. Whatever the enemy was after, it had to be important. Important like the Flame Alchemist who was currently shielding her body. He had been right. "Roy..."

"Where are my gloves?" He asked.

"I won't take off your bandage, you can't just run out there and go from dark to light instantly! It will do more damage than the debris you got in your eyes!" Riza hissed.

"Dr. Hawkeye, someone is attacking this hospital and I don't mean to sound arrogant but I'm pretty confident it's for me. So, my eyes be damned." He said sternly.

"I'll be your eyes." She said. "Don't you dare take that bandage off you idiot!"

"Get my gloves, please." He sat up. "They were in my pants when I was admitted."

"I'll get them. They're in the Colonel's office. Stay here." She ordered and jumped up.

"Hawkeye!" He felt her scramble out from under him and the door slam shut before he could do anything. "Dammit! Don't go where I can't follow!"

She turned back to the door as she heard his panicked shout and replied, "You touch that bandage and I'll shoot your hand off!"

He stood up and leaned against the exam table. He needed to focus, he needed to figure out how the hell he was going to use his alchemy without his eyes. However another shell whistled on it's way into the camp and he ducked below the table to shielded himself from the impact. Of all the times he finally wanted to use his alchemy to attack, he was useless.


	6. Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

 

 

_Military Personnel_

Chapter 6

**Goodbye, Farewell and Amen**

* * *

"How good is your aim?" Roy asked.

"Excellent. Had I not gone to medical school I probably would have joined the military. My grandfather likes to brag that my accuracy would put a sniper to shame." Riza wrapped her arm around him and set her chin on his shoulder so she could look down his arm as she would her rifle back home. She ran her hand up his outstretched arm and pushed it slightly to the left.

"You're one hell of a woman."

"Focus Major." She scolded and they both stood on the hill where hours earlier they had kissed like care-free youth. Now they were awaiting the arrival of a tank as it drove towards the chaos in the camp below. All the available vehicles were scrambling to load and evacuate wounded and she was on this rise with the most valuable patient waiting for a tank to come into view. The unpredictable tides of war.

"It's a little difficult when you're holding me like this." He said and took a deep breath. She was doing her part of directing him but he worried that his control would be the issue. "I can hear the tank engine idling, did they stop?"

"Stop trying to rush out there. We had a plan and we're sticking to it." The plan, if it could be called that, was simply to guide the Flame Alchemist to the best location for his attack and help him target the enemy. Everything they had struggled with over the past few days was now down to this; the two of them acting together to hopefully destroy the tanks with the use of the cursed alchemy that haunted them both.

"I don't want them to get another shot off." Roy replied. He needed her to understand that any more damage was unacceptable. The enemy was here for him.

"Roy, stop. They'll move the tank, I promise. I spent my teenage years living with my grandfather who happens to be a Lieutenant General. I understand military tactics better than you are giving me credit for." Riza said confidently even if her own confidence was shaken. "This was the subject of many dinner discussions."

"Will you have dinner with me tonight?" Roy asked.

"Roy..." She stammered. What the hell kind of question was that? The siren was blaring, they could hear screaming from below, the air stank of the black smoke from the laundry tent catching on fire and he was asking her out on a date?

"I need someone to make sure Barry isn't putting possum in the stew. " He said and felt her relax.

She smiled. His distraction techniques were obvious, but did the trick. She stood up higher on her toes and pressed her cheek to the side of his face. "Alright, but just because I want to make sure you take your meds."

"I can feel you smiling. Which is good because you were starting to get me a little excited and I didn't want to snap and fire off prematurely and reveal our position." He said and felt a squeeze to his outstretched arm.

"Then stop saying things laced with innuendo."

"Can't help it..." He said. "I'm a little worried you're going to take off this bandage and tell me you're not interested because of my Xingese eyes."

"That's ridiculous." She snorted. "All I'll ever see in those gorgeous orbs of yours is my flawless surgical precision that saved your eyesight."

It was his turn to smile. Then he heard the tank engine rev up and his smile faded. Next was the sound of a shell hitting the metal floor of the tank interior. "Shit, they're getting ready to fire."

"Wait." She said and squeezed him with the arm wrapped around his chest.

"Riza, please stay behind me. I need to see to be able to judge the distance and intensity. I can't see my environment, I can't pinpoint my attack." Roy felt his heart try to thump through his chest as the thought of injuring her rushed to the forefront of his mind.

"Don't hold back."

"I have to. There are munitions in there, my initial attack will be followed by a secondary explosion from the gasoline in the tank and a tertiary ignition from the gun power in the shells. There is going to be blow back, I don't want you hurt. "

"Roy, calm down. I am an excellent shot which means I have to be able to judge distance." She gave him a comforting squeeze. "Don't hold back, trust me."

"I do Riza. I don't trust myself."

"You trusted me with your eyes, trust me to be them." She said with a calm and level voice that hid the fear rumbling through out her body.

He steadied his breathing and focused on feeling the energy that was beginning to crackle around his hands. "Wind speed?"

She let go of him and reached for the puffy seed pod of one of the desert weeds. She plucked the white fluff off it and held it up to let the wind take it. It floated over Roy's shoulder, leisurely hovering in the air and slowly making it's away to a new destination. She glanced down to camp where the wooden road sign had arrows pointing in every direction, arrows designating where members of the hospital called home. It was a sign she had memorized and knew the third arrow down pointed to Havoc's hometown. "Winds out of the South South East, approximately 5mph."

Roy nodded and felt her come back up to him, her body pressing into his back as she ran her hand up his arm again and rested her chin on his shoulder. He listened, his ears now more in tune to the slightest sound that he would have missed before. He heard her breathing, how she began to take control of her own breaths as a shooter would to ensure a long distance target was hit. The air around him began to click and snap, as he toyed momentarily with the oxygen molecules around him to reassure himself that he could still wield his signature weapon without his eyes. The desert air was dry, atmospheric moisture content would be a minor factor in his transmutation. "Pull the trigger when you are ready. I'll envelop the tank in a enough fire to heat the metal up, the people...along with fuel inside will be subject to intense rising temperatures."

He was trying to prepare her for the screams. "I'm no stranger to the sounds of agony."

"We'll need to take cover once it goes, once the gasoline vapors ignite." He said without losing focus. "Then we have to move on the other tank. Do you have it's location? The explosion will enable them to target us as well."

"Yes." She said and waited for what seemed like an eternity until she finally saw something move. "The end of the barrel is coming into view."

He could hear the click of each tread of the continuous track the wheels propelled the vehicle forward on. The turret moved a little and the whine made him hold his breath, angry that they were targeting the camp again. He waited and felt her push his arm slightly to the left.

"Fire." She said and his fingers slid together over the white fabric gloves and there was a sudden pressure build up of energy right before a stream of fire shot forth from hand. She was looking down his arm, watching it streak to it's target and as soon as it hit the tank a hiss of melting paint told Roy he had hit his mark.

Roy opened up his hand, increasing the flames as he pulled more oxygen into the reaction. He had to increase the temperature as quickly as the elements allowed, and the metal groaned under the onslaught of fire. He heard the screams, men caught inside the tank that had been suddenly turned into a boiler. Every piece of the vehicle was now too hot to touch, it would do the part of melting skin off the hands that controlled the forward motion and disabling it's progress down the road and away from his attack. It also rendered the gun turret useless as no human would be able to crank it around to fire at them. Unfortunately the fire outside and hot shell of the beast meant that the men inside could not escape a horrible death.

Riza didn't want to look away from the incredible display. This was her father's life, the secret he cherished more than his own daughter. Roy's ability to use this, even without his vision, was one of the most terrifying and awe-inspiring things she had ever seen in her life. Finally she heard the first explosion and squeezed his forearm. "You did it!"

Roy released his hold on the energy behind the reaction and let it take it's natural course. It was then that something began to pop and he realized it was the rivets that held the mobile weapon together since they had a lower melting point than the frame. He felt Riza pull him away before the hiss of something else signified another explosion was about to rip apart the tank. "Where is the other one?"

"By the motor pool."

Roy had to smile. "Really? Don't they know how dangerous that moonshine Havoc brewed is?"

"I guess someone should show them." She said and felt him nudge her.

"Let's go, no survivors in there if the rivets melted already. We have to get off this hill before they shell us."

"Keep your head down." She instructed and pulled him towards the small access path they used to get up here. Another explosion shook the ground and she ignored it, needing to get him to his next location before the enemy could retaliate.

"Riza!" Rebecca called from behind one of the trucks. "What the hell are you doing!?"

She ignored her and kept leading Mustang around the back of the infirmary, past the showers and towards the latrines and laundry tents. "How close do you need to be?"

"50 yards." Roy replied, surprised that she could find a clear path to guide him through. He didn't trip once.

"What do you need me to tell you?" Riza asked and brought him to a stop next to an outhouse.

"How ruggedly handsome I am?" He replied and she took her position behind him and pushed his arm up.

"Don't want to set you off prematurely." She deadpanned, repeating his line from earlier.

"I'll have to see a doctor about that problem." He quipped.

She stood on her toes again and looked down his arm, adjusting it slightly to make sure he hit the still on the back side of the wall tent. "Approximately 50 yards. "

He listened and heard the clank of the tank off to his right. " This is going to be a mess. With all the combustibles, the smoke is going to be black and heavy. I want to use it as a smoke screen. A distraction, that way we can get around behind them. Is that a possibility? I don't know the layout of the camp."

"Yes. I'll be ready to move as soon as it blows."

He nodded and concentrated, the snap of his fingers this time creating a more refined stream of flame, one meant to cut through the canvas tent wall and not expand until inside it. He waited, hoping he wasn't just burning blankets and cigarette cartons, but he had faith in his partner. She wouldn't steer him wrong.

Riza watched the alcohol fueled fire erupt and consume the tent wall and roof immediately. She grabbed Roy's arm and moved him, pulling him towards the latrine pits and the awful smell they contained. Then she saw it, the rear of the tank hidden behind the ambulances and jeeps in states of disrepair. "This one is hiding in our mechanic's yard."

"Well, I'd like to say I'm sorry about destroying our government's property..." Roy said and tried to breathe through his mouth instead of inhaling the stench from the latrines. "However they clearly don't have their priorities in order."

Riza grabbed him and pulled him close to her again. She lifted his arm and pointed him at his next target. "100 yards."

He snapped and let loose and fiery string of hell towards the second tank. He had to finish this battle, this was clearly the cavalry and the people behind this attack weren't going to send just two tanks to destroy this camp. They would be sending troops, possibly using the tanks to push the wounded and military personnel out of this location. They were being herded out of here and Roy knew that any Amestrian in a uniform was going to be fair game. Doctor or not.

* * *

Roy sat in Hughes's office and waited for the commander to come back to his post. He knew the man had plenty of other places to be, but he told Riza he had to have a private council with him immediately. The door swung open and he waited for acknowledgment.

"Ok, Major, you have two minutes." Hughes leaned up against the door and pulled out his watch. "Well? You just wasted five seconds of it."

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, I have reason to suspect that this attack was not only caused by our government's proclamation of my acts of...heroism, but also instigated by them to see to it that certain activities in this camp came to an abrupt halt." Roy said and waited.

"I'm not interested in wasting my time listening to your vague use of vocabulary, Mustang. What the hell are you talking about?" Hughes huffed.

Roy didn't know how to say that three of his doctors were helping the enemy without outing them. "I think some higher up might have found out about some extra-curricular activities of the humanitarian variety."

Hughes grunted. "Ok, I follow."

"That article Archer was so happy to report to me about, I really feel like my concerns were justified." Roy said and hung his head.

"Do you think after all the effort that was put into saving you that the army would just broadcast your location and have a couple tanks brought in to level my hospital and chance hitting you?"

"Hawkeye surveyed the damages for me." Roy replied. "The buildings attacked were not occupied. I know the sound of our tanks, I didn't need her to read off the serial numbers to tell me they were ours."

"Reported seized by Aurego mercenaries." Hughes said. "Fuery got a message out to field command, they relayed the information that two tanks had been taken in an ambush recently."

"Did they tell him who paid the mercenaries?" Roy asked and felt the silence in the room immediately after. He could hear the clock ticking on the wall and waited on Hughes to react. Then heard the squeak of a chair as Hughes finally sat down.

"Alright Major." Hughes clicked his watch shut. "You just bought yourself more time."

"If someone wanted me dead, why send the most obvious piece of mobilized weaponry here to destroy the laundry tent, the integrity of the main road and a generator? Why not just send a local with a gun? It's not like I could see anyone looking to kill me. I'm not under guard. I'm the easiest person to kill in this camp."

"I think two tanks beg to differ." Hughes bit his lip and sighed. These were serious allegations but he was a career army doctor and he knew his own government capable of this. "Shit."

"I think they were here to uproot your mobile surgical hospital and create chaos. I'd be a priority and as soon as you were able to, I'd be sent with an escort to another location."

"Fuery already relayed those orders to me." Hughes rubbed his temple. "I'm supposed to ship you out immediately."

"Then how easy would it be to start picking off doctors?" Roy paused, not sure how far he could trust Hughes but at this point he was already accusing his own government of sending mercenaries to destroy their own hospital, so what did it matter? "This isn't the first time I've heard of doctors who blur the line between friend and foe being eliminated. Our government..."

"When we're attacking our own citizens," Hughes interrupted, "Exactly how do you distinguish between who is Amestrian and who is not? My doctors, only treat Amestrians, so there is hardly anything I could charge anyone with."

Roy breathed a sigh of relief. Hughes, despite his obnoxious persona, was clear not a brainwashed soldier. "I'm afraid that moving this hospital will put your command in danger."

"Well in light of recent information that has crossed my desk, I have to agree with you Major." Hughes grimaced. "I'll have sentries posted and our drivers on high alert, but everyone is coming back to this camp tonight. Perhaps before they all get here you can get those bandages off as planned? It would be nice to not have to listen to Barry whine about his girlfriend hugging and holding hands with you next time I need your firepower."

* * *

"You can open your eyes." Riza said quietly. "We're in a corner without direct overhead light."

"Five days." Was all Roy could really say. Like everything in war, heightened emotional state had made things escalate faster. However, he had the added bonus of the terror of losing his vision and the surprise of finally meeting his Master's daughter. His mind was begging him to remember these factors before he set his eyes on Riza. He wanted to spend more time with her, he felt so comfortable talking with her...he didn't want to leave.

"It's...only been five days." She knew what he was struggling with, she didn't want to admit it to herself either. How his kisses had left her longing for more and how she would check up on him in the night just to watch him sleep. They didn't even know each other, no matter what comfort they had found in each others company. No matter how easy it was for them to cooperate and destroy two tanks. Five days. Soon he'd be gone forever. "Open your eyes, we can't put this off."

He let them open slowly, adjusting to the dim light over the course of a few minutes and keeping his eyes fixed on her hand. He had to keep blinking, the air hitting his eyes were making them water and the residue of the medication still lingered on his eyelashes. There seemed to be little flecks of things floating around his eyes but otherwise he seemed to be focusing quickly. Comfortable that he could actually see, just probably not with the best accuracy, he let his eyes drift up to her face.

She raised her eyebrows expectantly and waited for him to say something. She smiled back at him when a grin formed on his face, it was hard not to.

"You're beautiful."

She held her breath. She looked into his watery eyes as he blinked and squinted trying to maintain eye contact despite the dim light bothering him. "Don't force anything. Give your eyes time to adjust. Don't rush it."

He reached out and took a long strand of her golden hair in his hand and let it slip across his fingers as he pulled his hand away. He continued to blink rapidly, his eyes tearing up from the exposure but he kept looking at her face. As the minutes passed, she kept becoming clearer as his eyes focused. "I'm so glad you don't look like your father. It would have made this whole day really weird."

She looked up as the door swung open and Hughes poked his head in. She could see from his expression that it wasn't good news. "What?"

"Just got a call from the command center." Hughes looked at Mustang's eyes, squinting at him and trying to regain functionality. "Mustang's getting shipped out now. Nothing I can do about it."

Riza bit her lip as she turned back to her patient. "You  _are_  a valuable asset."

"I bought you some time, I told them out best driver is in the lead of the convoy from the evacuation." Hughes put his head against the door. "And that as a doctor I want to make sure he travels at night to avoid the desert sun getting in his eyes. So...you have an hour. Use it wisely."


	7. I Need a Hero

 

 

_Military Personnel_

Chapter 7

**I Need a Hero**

* * *

Riza washed her face with cold water in an attempt to shock herself into being ready for several more hours in the O.R. She leaned over the basin and closed her eyes, trying to remember his face and the feeling of his arms and the taste of his lips. The memories were growing dimmer and she wanted so desperately to have a moment of something good before going back in and working for god knows how many more hours.

It was two weeks since Roy was whisked away to go back to the front. Their last hour together had been spent trying to put a final chapter on their short relationship, if you could even call it that. After Hughes gave them the news she had slipped back into the role of a professional and instructed him on how to administer his eye drops, how long to take his medication and cautioned him about protecting his eyes from direct sunlight for a little while. It was easier and less cruel to spend that time doing anything else. He understood the need to put a neat end to whatever their time together had been and welcomed the opportunity. So instead of a kiss goodbye, she got a sharp salute from a fellow officer when he finally climbed into the Jeep to leave. It was a neat, no strings attached goodbye. They respected each other two much to make hollow promises and it did make it easier on her. At least for the first week.

Then earlier this week, Lt. Colonel Hughes received his honorable discharge notice. Unknown to most of the staff he had requested a discharge in order to go into private practice and be at home with his family. Riza knew, but was still shocked when he handed her the approved paperwork. The military wasn't in the habit of letting anyone return home before they were done using them, and she couldn't help but wonder if this move was unprecedented. She assumed it was because he had refused to move his unit after the mercenary attack, but dismissed it because he'd be facing military inquiries instead of a trip home. He almost buried her in pictures of Elicia and Gracia and couldn't drag Fuery into his office fast enough to get his wife on the phone. She was happy for him, it was finally good news and a friend was going home. She knew she'd miss him more than she could comprehend at that point, Maes was a shining light of hope in this dingy hell and you could always count on him to distract you when you needed it most. Yesterday they had bid their commander goodbye with an off-key version of "He's a jolly good fellow" and Major Frank Archer took command of the MASH 611. A new chapter was about to being and she wished she could just throw away the damned book already.

Today the familiar sound of Fuery's voice carried through the air and told them more casualties were expected and as promised it had been a rough day. Fighting had intensified, the army was pushing hard against a region in the south and she knew it was because they got their treasured weapon back. Roy Mustang was back to work and the military seemed to be making up for lost time. Archer had relayed that information to her, congratulating her on a job well done. Certainly that would look great in her file, that she had personally saved the Flame Alchemist and returned him to the front. If anyone could make you feel worse about bad news, it was Frank.

So she looked up into the mirror and reluctantly put her mask back on. It was time to go back in there and listen to Frank ramble on about changes that he was going to make and how he was just waiting on a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. How it would be an atrocity to have the commander of the hospital outranked by a damned State Alchemist if another one happened by. She silently prayed Roy would find his way back, if only to pull rank on Archer for something insignificant.

Riza finished scrubbing up and went back to work, pushing through the swing doors to the O.R with her back and giving a nod to Sara who was currently working on prepping her patient. The man's foot was missing and the good doctor Rockbell was assuring the man that he could be fit for automail and continue to have a full life. Riza felt bad, she couldn't really couldn't find the desire to fake the optimism, she always doled out the facts finding comfort in honesty. She didn't see the need to fabricate the image of the future for these men, the truth for that soldier was that he could have automail but the army wouldn't pay for it. They'd compensate him for the loss of the limb, a few thousand Cenz on top of his final paycheck and a measly pension. Finances would negate automail and the years of rehabilitation as an option unless he had a family capable of bearing the financial burden for him. However, that lucky man was not her patient today and seemed to appreciate Sara's outlook.

She toyed with her surgical instruments and tried to focus. Her mind was everywhere but here and she knew it. Her next patient arrived and the orderly set him down on the table. She took the patient information from the nurse and looked it over.  _Nineteen, gunshot wound, embedded shrapnel._ She glanced down at the young man already high on morphine and surveyed the damage. Chest wound. This was going to be a mess and she had to be ready to hunt for metal fragments in his flesh. She just couldn't focus and another distraction came in the form of Fuery as he entered the room. She saw from the look on his face that something was horribly wrong and she froze.

Fuery stood in the operating room, his shaking hands clutching a single half sheet of paper and he tried to clear his throat but couldn't dislodge the choked back emotion. "I have a message."

Frank Archer turned to the radio tech and glared at him. "Where the hell is your mask Sargent!? You might have gotten away with sloppy protocol under Hughes's command, but this is my outfit now and I expect better."

"Shut up Frank." Riza snapped at him, her weary eyes suddenly sharp and hostile at her new commanding officer.

Urey calmly dropped a bullet fragment into a pan and said, "Go ahead, kid. What's so important?"

Fuery bit his lip and crumpled the paper in his hand. "I have a message. Lieutenant Colonel...Maes Hughes...his convoy was attacked. There were no survivors."

* * *

Riza slid down the side of the ambulance and sat down next to the tire. The last thirty-six hours had been nonstop and seeing the ambulance empty was a cue to her brain to finally shut down and find a little reprieve. So until someone made her move, she was just going to sit here covered in blood and clipped ends of sutures and take the welcome rest. She blocked out the sounds of the other vehicles approaching, the ambulance trucks had a rather distinct sound that set them apart from the regular passenger vehicles. There were no more wounded, for now.

Nearly two months had passed since Hughes's death and it felt like two lifetimes. There seemed to be no end to the war, no end to the escalation of destruction by the alchemists and no word from Mustang. Riza was too tired to really understand why that mattered in the grand scale of things. She thought he'd send her a letter maybe call with some distant condolences for the loss of Hughes, but nothing came. She vaguely recalled his voice asking her if he could write her and knew she didn't say yes. In fact she made it perfectly clear that she wanted a disconnect from his five days in her care, so there was nobody to really blame but herself.

She felt the presence of someone and just muttered, "Damned slave drivers, go away. I'm done."

"I thought maybe I could convince you to have a drink with me? One made from grapes, not re-purposed fuel?"

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, the voice was unmistakable. She stared up at him, his blue uniform covered in dust from drive. Her heart leapt as she saw his smile. "What...are you doing here? Are you real?"

Roy squatted down in front of her and smiled. "Flowers, wine...I was hoping I could convince Barry to let me see his blood seal. You know us alchemists, those things just get us all hot and bothered."

She was so exhausted she couldn't believe he was really here in front of her. It was him, she knew it. She was way too tired to conjure up jokes in her fantasy. He had to be real. "You came back."

"For a date. Not a follow up exam." He smiled at her and put the flowers in her hand and then stood. He reached out offered her help getting up.

"Where are we going?" She asked. A part of her hoped he would say he was quitting, going AWOL and saying to hell with it all. However her rational side knew they were both past that point of no return. There was no quitting, just a grueling journey to the bitter end.

"Laundry tent?" He asked with a sly grin. "I'm planning to use some of my military might to convince the quartermaster that those flammable blankets have no place in a hospital."

She took his hand and he lifted her to her feet. She wobbled a little, no longer all that steady after hours of non-stop work and several days of restless nights. She hugged him and pressed her head into his shoulder. "You came back."

"You're just going to fall asleep on me, aren't you?" He asked and she nodded. He wrapped his arms around her and lost himself in the simplicity of the embrace for just a few more moments. "Let's get you to bed. It's about time I watch over you as you sleep."

"How did you know I did that?"

"I'd like to say I felt your presence...but Barry told me when he threatened to chop me to pieces for stealing the love of his life."

"Your uniform...smells like smoke." She said sadly. It was a reminder of where he had most recently been. Even if the Crimson Alchemist was responsible for the latest spike in the fighting, it didn't mean Flame would be allowed to sit it out. It brought her back from her momentary escape from reality.

"It's still my job."

"I'm sorry."

"Time for bed Riza." He said and brushed a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear. He let his hand caress her jaw as his eyes looked over the beautiful face that shouldn't be marred with heavy bags under her eyes. Her skin was pale and her hair dull. He only had an hour of looking at her before, a mere hour to commit her image to memory through watery and protesting eyes, but he saw so much change. The undertow was finally starting to drag her under.

"Ditch the jacket and stay with me." She looked up at him. " I want to know what it's like to sleep in your arms before you leave again."

He knew she was beyond exhaustion and he shouldn't get too excited hearing the words that slipped past her internal filter, but his heart hitched when she said it none-the-less. He supported her back with his left arm and bent at the knees to sweep his right arm under her legs. She was so easy to pick up, the scrubs hiding what was clearly an underweight and overworked body. She smiled at him and nuzzled against his shoulder, not a sound of protest coming from her chapped lips. "You're going to have to direct me, I'm not sure where your tent is."

"What the hell is  _he_  doing back here?" Barry set the crate he was carrying down on the hood of a jeep and marched over to the man holding his beloved Riza like he was posing for a romance novel. "I thought we got rid of you!"

"I missed your cooking." Roy replied with a mocking smile and heard Riza grunt begrudgingly in his arms.

"I have to get some supplies to the...other hospital." Riza mumbled and nudged Roy to set her down. She didn't realize Barry would have it all packed already. He seemed to enjoy helping them steal supplies by hiding them in his armored body now that Archer was in charge. The help was appreciated, just not at this moment. "Urey and Sara left a few hours ago. They're going to need restocked. Kimblee was working hard today."

"Just tell me where and I'll deliver it." Roy said and she shook her head.

"I don't want to get you involved."

"I already am involved." He replied and looked around. "So tell me where your tent is, let me put you to bed and I'll be the delivery boy."

"No, I'll come with you." She said and leaned her forehead against his face. "You drive, I call shotgun."

"How long you here for pal?" Barry asked as he picked up the crate to follow the alchemist to his vehicle.

"Just a 24 hr furlough." Roy replied. "Don't bother harvesting any roadkill on my account."

"But it's Stir-Friday!" Barry dropped the crate in the back of the jeep.

"Maybe next time." Roy sat Riza down and she whispered in his ear.

"He'll slip laxative in your food. He's been doing it to Lieutenant Colonel Archer." Riza cautioned.

Roy paused and squeezed her hand. "I heard about Hughes."

"Yeah." Riza looked away.

"I'm to blame for his death. I should have never told him..."

"You didn't kill him did you?" She glanced up at his guilt ridden face. "Not by your hand? It's not your doing."

"I got him involved."

"Roy,  _we_  got him involved." Riza said with a shake of her head. "Rockbells and I, we brought this down on all of us."

"So, let's make sure they have the supplies they need to continue doing the right thing." Roy leaned down and placed a light kiss on her forehead. Guilt, it seemed, would be their ever present shadow no matter what they did. Now he knew why her resolve was cracking, she blamed herself for taking Hughes from his family. That however, would be a discussion for another time.

"Let me go get my sidearm while you and Barry secure the crate." She slipped out of the jeep and gave him a light kiss. "Don't go anywhere without me."

* * *

Roy hefted the crate of supplies out of the Jeep and carried it to the little isolated shack that was made with pallets and tarps. Riza held the canvas door open for him and he ducked inside the tiny building. His eyes scanned the beds immediately, looking at the dark skinned patients that possibly were here because of him. One woman clutched her blanket firmly upon seeing his uniform, terror in her red eyes. Riza took his arm and he returned her gaze to her.

"Back here." She instructed and walked ahead to the little alcove that was made out of empty crates.

Sara smiled as soon as she saw who the guest was. "Good to see you again Major."

Urey cocked his head as he finished splinting a broken hand on an Ishvalian boy. He wasn't going to question why Riza brought him here, he doubted she'd be able to give him an answer anyway. "So what news do you bring from the front?"

"It's probably going to be another three months, but the war is coming to an end." Roy watched Urey and Sara look at each other and smile. "It's not just boasting this time, it's for real."

"That is good news." Urey finished and picked the boy up off the table and set him down on his own two feet. He didn't want to risk having the boy jump down.

Roy froze as the boy walked past him, staring at him the entire time. He didn't know if there was recognition in those eyes or just curiosity. He closed his eyes and wondered if three more months of bloodshed was really good news or not.

"Well, I'm sure you didn't come here to spend time with us." Sara gave Riza an encouraging smile. "Thank you for the supplies dear, you should get some sleep."

Roy walked over to a picture on the wall held in place with a single push pin. The edges were worn out and the wood behind it was pockmarked with pin holes denoting the picture had been removed and rehung many times. Three kids, one little girl in a sundress with bright blue eyes and two boys she held in place with her arms. Clearly the boys weren't as interested in taking pictures as she was. One had a scowl plastered on his face and the other was laughing while trying to grab at a kitten.

Sara walked over to the picture that the Major was focused on. "Our little girl and her two friends from next door. You should come visit. Those boys are alchemists, I'm sure they'd love to meet you."

Roy was more surprised that she would subject those kids to a man like him, a man who used alchemy for everything she stood against, than the incriminating evidence that was the photo. Sure, it wasn't a family picture, just a nice picture of some Amestrian kids hanging in a refugee hospital, but one look at that little girl and you would know she was her mother's daughter. Apparently they all need constant reminders these days of why they were doing their jobs.

Sara continued, "You'll have to bring him around sometime, Riza."

Roy watched Sara leave sporting a sly grin and then caught the blush on Riza's face. "How about we start with that dinner I promised you?"

Riza nodded and made her way out of the hospital and to the waiting Jeep. She leaned against the vehicle and as soon as he was close enough she asked the question that had been eating away at her. "Why didn't you write?"

Roy put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "Well our government determined that the attack on the hospital _might_ have had something to do with their boasting about my injury. Then in a new stroke of brilliance decided that they no longer wanted anyone knowing where I was. So they now classify all my missions as high risk and no longer allow me communication with the outside world. For my safety, of course."

"Oh."

"I wrote you anyway." He said as a smile crept over his face, excited that she was disappointed she lost contact with him. "I have them in my bag. I smuggled them out anyhow."

"You're turning into quite the outlaw." She said and listened to his soft laugh. It made her smile.

"You should hear what I have planned for after this damned war is over." He grinned.

"If you can't even send letters, how did you get away on furlough?" She asked.

"I said I had floaters in my eye." He shrugged. "Something you wrote up on my release form, and I said I urgently needed the attention of my attending surgeon to ensure it wasn't going to be an issue. You'd be amazed at how quickly my C.O. signed that furlough and threw his keys at me. I know we parted on mutually agreeable terms, but I needed you to know that I haven't stopped thinking about you. I need you to know that."

Riza pushed herself off the Jeep, wanting to confess that she clung to his memory like a security blanket as she weathered the storm here. How Hughes's loss had hit her hard and the uncertainty of what they shared was eating away at her. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to finish medical school, the enthusiasm that drove her for her career died along with so many out here in the desert. Instead, as she opened her mouth to say something a huge crash inside the makeshift building alerted them both to something going horribly wrong inside.

Roy was quick to pull his gloves out of his pockets as he removed his hands, slipping them on without thinking about it at this point. Riza darted in front of him, racing to the sound of distress in the sanctuary and not considering there might be lurking danger within the shoddy walls. He had his gun drawn as he pushed through the canvas door and his eyes focused on the man who had a hand around Urey's throat and was lifting him in the air. His gun was immediately on the target, ready to fire into the huge Ishvalian's shoulder, then the chaos took another turn as all the patients panicked. An Amestrian soldier with a gun was the last thing the refugees needed to see.

Riza pulled her own sidearm, standard issue for any officer in the military, but as the Ishvalian turned to see what was causing the panic she was knocked over by a patient scrambling for the door. She held onto the gun and looked up as beds were flipped across the room and Roy stood firm against the waves of people and fired.

Sara screamed, "Don't kill him!"

Roy unloaded two rounds into the enraged man, but it was like being armed with a slingshot against a rhino. The man's rage enabled him to power past the bullet wounds and swat the alchemist's gun away before slamming him into the wall. The wall gave way, being made of pallets nailed together without a solid base and they fell into the operating room.

Riza finally leveled her own gun at the man and fired,hitting him in the shoulder which distracted him from trying to crush Roy's face with his hand. She wasn't even sure if this was a man, his eyes were wild with an animalistic craze and she froze. Shooting was one thing she was more than comfortable with, but killing was something she wasn't. Especially when looking at the eyes of the man who she was targeting. Then there was a snap and a burst of flame as Roy struck back.

The Ishvalian reacted to the agony of the burn on his arm and released his hold on the soldier. Roy prepared to hit him again, but heard Sara's scream above the din of all else.

"NO! He's just confused!" Sara hollered at the top of her lungs. "Like you were Major when you woke up blind!"

Roy doubted that to be the case, he saw something rabid in this man that wasn't misdirection or confusion. However, the image of those three kids stuck in his mind and the idea that maybe these people wouldn't be ashamed to say they knew him made him change his tactics. He focused on the oxygen now, but to force it into the man's vicinity in order to cause him to become lightheaded and hopefully pass out before he did too much damage.

Riza watched the man stumble back, his balance thrown off. He was already in bad shape before, but now he was bleeding from three bullet wounds and a fresh burn on his tattooed arm. She scrambled to the OR to grab sedative, not sure what state the Rockbells were in. She looked up as Sara jumped over her, already on her way with a syringe of morphine. and glanced back at Roy. His jaw was set in grim determination and his brow furrowed with intense concentration as he performed some transmutation that only he was aware of. Riza had no idea what he was doing, but as she heard a crash she knew it worked. Her eyes shifted to the crumpled body on the floor, as she looked under two undamaged beds to see their attacker's scarred face.

Roy let his hand fall and watched the two Rockbells fret over their patient, now exponentially worse than he was before. Urey seemed unharmed, Sara appeared relieved and he glanced over to Riza to see a look of confusion. "I manipulate oxygen. I just increased the concentration around him to make him pass out."

Riza crawled over to his side and looked him over. Her heart racing as she tried to work past the mixed emotions and adrenaline. Her hands shook as she touched him, needing the reassurance that he wasn't harmed by just being involved in her life. How by doing the right thing a good man already died and another two were almost killed. "Are you hurt?"

"Are you?" He asked and took her trembling hand.

"We're going to need help getting him onto the operating table!" Sara called out.

Roy and Riza shared a look that required no explanation, one they understood clearly without a single word. The insanity of saving a man, only to have him try to kill you, then saving him again. Of all the people who had died in front of them both, people who so desperately wanted to have a second chance to maybe be in a different place or time, this man with the scar was going to be lucky enough to have three doctors try to save him. Again.

So two young people that had this cruel world toy with their good intentions, now saw an understanding in the glistening orbs of another human being and knew weren't alone anymore. Sometimes all you needed was to know that there was just one person out there who understood the conflicting emotions of what you had to do because the choices were never so simple as right or wrong. The decisions that haunted you, the ones that made you question your direction in life when you were faced with something your mind and soul fought over, but you trudged ahead anyway because there was a job to be done.

So he held out his hand after he stood up and said, "I'm not going anywhere, I'll watch over you."

Riza took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. Normally a statement like that would imply she needed protecting, but she looked into those onyx eyes and saw a man who knew she was also uneasy with the choice that had been made. That she was going to have to take a bullet out that she shot a man with and it went against her oath as a live saver. He was here to watch over them and make sure that if something had to be done, it would be his call and the three people trying to save a life wouldn't have that blood on their hands. It wasn't a statement of her need, it was a promise from someone who didn't want to see her hurt or have to struggle with any more.

To save the man they now referred to as Scar, since he arrived unconscious and remained so, the three exhausted doctors labored well into the night. Roy sat on a crate against the wall and watched them work, sketching out the tattoo the man had on his arms in his little black notebook. Then he heard Sara's exhausted voice address him.

"Major. Perhaps you can drive Riza back? I'm sure Colonel Archer will notice we're not around at some point. We're taking a risk all being out of camp together." Sara wiped her arm across her brow and gave him a weak smile. "And ask Barry to make a trip out here to watch over our friend?"

Roy noted that Riza did not protest. He stood, put his book away and checked Scar once more to make sure the man wasn't going to repeat his previous rampage. Somehow he was still alive and Roy couldn't help but wonder if the alchemic tattoo had something to do with it. "Exactly how is it that you all managed to escape Archer's scrutiny?"

"He thinks we sneak away to engage in marital acts." Urey said without a trace of emotion. "Always has. Hughes lectured him once about the importance of stress relief and he never asked again."

Riza walked over to Roy and wrapped her arm around his, leaning into him and resting her head against his upper arm. His uniform still stank of smoke and she didn't care. She just shot a man for him and she knew she'd do it again if the situation called for it. Right now, she wanted to get out of here before her dammed up emotions overwhelmed her and she started to cry. Sara and Urey would not make the same mistake twice and they would keep Scar sedated until Barry arrived, it was safe to leave. She heard Roy's voice but didn't really comprehend the words, just that they were some form of a goodbye. So she let him lead her out of the small sanctuary and to the Jeep before breaking down and crying into his shoulder. His arms and smokey scent enveloped her as he lightly ran his hand over her hair and placed light kisses on her head. A comforting and encouraging warmth wrapped around her, a stark contrast to the cold and disapproving voice from her childhood who told her that crying only wasted time and never accomplished anything. Right now, it was the best feeling in the world because she didn't have to think.

Roy rested his chin on her head and said softly, "You really do go to some extreme measures to avoid going out on a date with me. A simple no, as opposed to a mercenary attack or attempted murder, would suffice."

She had to laugh, an awkward half crying half chuckling sobbing laugh. "I guess I just need a hero."

"I seem to recall things a little differently." Roy wiped away a tear after she looked up at him. "I think you've saved me quite a few times and I haven't even known you a week. You're the real hero here, Riza Hawkeye, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

She choked up and couldn't say anything, so she grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him down to a kiss.

"How about we get out of here and you fall asleep in my arms like you promised earlier?" He asked when she finally pulled away to wipe her eyes and sniffle.

"Sounds like a date."

"I don't know, you're establishing some fairly high standards for dates." He wrapped his arm around her and walked her to her door. He opened it and looked at her before she got in. "At this rate I'm going to have to save the world in order to keep your interest."

She cleared her throat. "So, that's what I should expect for next time? If so, I'll make sure to have my bags packed."

"Nah." He gave her a thoughtful smile. "I'm going to start by fixing Amestris first, then we can tackle the world once I'm Fuhrer."

She was in the process of sitting down in her seat when he said it and she glanced up at him as he slammed the door shut. Something about the way he said it, it sounded like it was premeditated. His eyes told her her suspicions were right and playful smirk told her now wasn't the right time to ask. So she sat back in the uncomfortable seat of the army Jeep and ponered it. Soon however, her thoughts were solely on the important question of whether or not Roy Mustang was just excited to get back to camp or really was the worst driver she had ever met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Note: So this was supposed to be the last chapter, however I started to ramble and had to bump the original ending to the next chapter. Unfortunately since this all was written before posting so it means Chapter 8 is only half written. (It will be the final chapter, I swear! )
> 
> Also, I tend to dabble in AUs because I really like having Hughes live. Unfortunately he was perfect for the part of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in this story which meant that...I had to follow through with the same demise. Which sucked. A lot.


	8. After MASH

 

 

_Military Personnel_

Chapter 8

**After MASH**

* * *

_One Year Later..._

Riza rested her head against the window as the southbound train clanked down the tracks. The land out here was beautiful, even though most of it was a green blur as the locomotive powered on to it's next destination. She could still see the outline of rolling hills and specks of animals grazing making it a picturesque pastoral landscape. It was serene and should have calmed her mind instead of stirring memories, but that wasn't how the brain worked.

It wasn't the first time she had taken in these sights and as she turned away from the window her mind inevitably wandered to those days of naivety. She looked down at her hands in her lap as they rested on the  _Central Times_ and let the memories flood over her. Back then she was freshly plucked from medical school on on her way to the front. Her professor told her it was a great opportunity; The military paid their doctors well in addition to providing them with the most advanced technology the world had to offer. She was  _lucky_ to be given the chance to showcase her talent, as if her surgical tools were instruments of a less gruesome art and not going to be stained forever with senseless sacrifice.

Those were the days when she believed those words, believed that she was going to make a difference.

However the war was over and had been so for a little under a year. The world moved on and with it the people who were  _lucky_  enough to make it back from Ishval alive. She wished it was so easy to just leave the past behind, to board the train and breathe a sigh of relief that it was time to finally go home. Unfortunately the past year taught her that home was never going to be that safe place again, that she could never really come home and devote herself to living without those memories. Words that still lingered in her mind, words said in Hughes's voice.  _I'm going home and leaving this war behind me. I'm going to be the best damned husband and father I can be and they will never know what horrors I have seen._ She'd never know if that would have been easy as he said it was and how she wished he was there to run to when she didn't know what to do anymore.

She was disillusioned and ready to quit, until one morning when she was walking the streets of Central in a haze. Her coffee in her hand and bags of sleep deprivation under her eyes, she trudged to the hospital by foot to try and wake up. Then she saw something familiar on the morning edition of the newspaper. Suddenly she felt a spark stir in her again as she pulled a few Cenz from her pocket to buy the  _Times._ Normally she wouldn't care about a ticker tape parade. It was something she'd dismiss as a show of military might and garish public relations spectacle, but  _he_  was the headline.  _Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist, to receive highest military honors and promotion. Hero of Ishval to be welcomed home with parade._

Oh how her heart had ached for him, even if she hadn't seen him since that night he fought Scar. She still read his letters, they were tattered and flimsy, but she read them despite having them all memorized. Perhaps it was his beautiful handwriting, or the way the ink bled onto the paper when he was clearly pausing to collect his thoughts. Perhaps it was his official picture he had slipped into her uniform pocket the morning he left with a phone number that she struggled to finish dialing every day before hanging up. Whatever the reason, Riza knew what Roy was feeling and she knew she had to see him that day. She knew he'd refuse to invite her to the ceremony, he wasn't going to be proud of those awards and clouds of self-doubt and disgust would hang over him. That was why she used whatever clout she had as Dr. Hawkeye to get an invite to that ceremony, because she knew he would torture himself for his achievements.

She wasn't spared from the hell either, she had returned to Central and found herself suddenly a celebrated student. All her professors who previously dismissed her as a woman out to grab a rich husband and graduate with an MRS instead of PHD, suddenly were  _oh_  so helpful. Doors opened, letters of commendation flooded in and a path was laid out for her to immediately return to the military upon her completion of schooling. Little did they know how she no longer had the passion for her profession, how the war numbed her to novelty of each procedure. How she now knew that human life was so very cheap and her efforts to save a life did nothing to really  _save the patient._

So that day she watched Major Mustang from the audience. Roy stood tall, proud and handsome as the Fuhrer himself pinned honors on his chest and another star on his epaulets. She was proud of him, proud because she saw the medals he earned saving MASH 611 from a mercenary attack. The man who almost sacrificed his vision to save his men. The hero who saved three doctors who otherwise would have died in that desert by the hands of a patient they weren't supposed to be treating. However when she went to congratulate him and saw those eyes of his, she knew those weren't the lives he was thinking of.  _Those eyes_ that she saved looking back at her as a dull black void; seeing but lost in his own thoughts and pain. He didn't need to explain what he was feeling. She knew that every commendation and compliment resonated through his body like the wail of the dead, the death cries of the people who paid for those with their blood.

So when she saw him again, when they finally looked each other in the eyes for the first time since he drove away from MASH 611, she knew she wasn't going to let him suffer alone. He didn't need to say a word and neither did she. So he squeezed her hand and whispered, "I missed you", as the flashes from the press cameras went off. The next day,  _they_  were the headlines and she swore to never lose track of him again.

So today as she looked down at her hands on the newspaper this time, she focused on something different. She focused on the silver band on her left ring finger, a simple engagement ring that had been passed down in the Mustang family for generations. He could have bought her anything with his ample salary, but it would have not meant as much as this heirloom on her finger. Say 'yes' when he was on his knee asking her to be his wife was possibly the easiest decision in her life. She wiggled the fingers on her left hand, the light piercing through the window catching the silver band as she did so.

"Not having second thoughts are you?" Roy teased as he pulled his eyes from his book and looked over at her hand.

She gave him a sideways glance and said, "I think I probably would have done so before we spent the weekend with my Grandfather."

"I don't know, the old man was pretty happy bragging and showing us off. You probably didn't want to break his heart." Roy replied and set his book down on the seat next to him. He took her hand and entwined his fingers in hers. "However maybe that's why you feel better taking me to the end of the line, kicking me off the train in Resenbool and making me ride with sheep to get back home."

"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, you have figured out my devious plan." She had to smile at him, his voice always managed to elicit a smile from her these days. Something about it chased away the chills of her darkest thoughts and just warmed her to the core. She pulled his hand up to her lips and kissed it. "I'm just thinking."

"About Ishval." He knew that's what was on her mind, not that it was ever far from either of their thoughts. He glanced out the window at the verdant pastures and the blue sky beyond the hills. This was as close as they had been to Ishval since the war and even though the landscape was nothing like that desert hell, there was a feeling of apprehension about what lay  _beyond_  the end of the line. When he was deployed, he didn't travel this route but headed East from East City to rendezvous with the Alchemist Corps. He felt his mouth go dry thinking about it, faces of men who were all older than him looking at the youngest State Alchemist in history and scrutinizing his baby face as he got off the train.

"Roy?" Riza kissed his knuckle as she said it, knowing by now the far off gaze that signified he was reminiscing.

He emerged from the haze and returned to the present where his fiance was gently placing kisses on his knuckles. "Riza, must you torture me? It's not like we had any time to be together at your Grandfather's and I doubt the Rockbell's are going to be thrilled with the notion of us traumatizing their child either."

"My grandfather wasn't exactly happy we moved in together before we got engaged." Riza chuckled.

"I could tell." Roy snorted and pulled her hand to his lips where he placed a kiss on her palm. "It didn't stop him from asking about great-grandchildren every hour."

"You better stop teasing me too." She said and pulled her hand from his lips.

"You started it."

She leaned against him glad that they were in a fairly empty passenger car and nobody could hear what they were saying. He put his arm around her and squeezed, placing a loving kiss on her head before resting his head on hers. When he was absent from her life, the three months when she had nothing but his letters, she scoured the newspaper for the mention of his name. Her MASH unit had been disbanded as hostilities drew to a close and she was honorably discharged and released to go back to school. She lost contact and it ate away at her. The army was so secretive about his location, all she had to look forward to was news of his triumphs. However, with him, that was never good news.

In those three months, Roy still was there. He was still a career military man and there was reorganizing, demilitarizing and decommissioning to be done. Even though the war was over, the army needed it's Flame Alchemist. There were bodies to burn, buildings to raze and supplies the government wouldn't allow the survivors to have. Yet she was hundreds of miles away questioning her feelings, second-guessing everything that happened between them because it happened during a war. Heightened emotions clouded your judgment. What she wouldn't give to be on this train heading back to the front months ago. Just to be there for him, to give him something to hold onto at night that wasn't a pen.

"Riza?"

"Sorry. We're just so close, it's hard to not think about it." She sat up and placed a kiss on his lips. Any reservations she had were long gone. Their relationship might have been forced under the worst circumstances, but it's raw and unforgiving start allowed them to be even closer. From the day she took his arm at the awards ceremony to this moment there hadn't been a second when they had veiled their emotions. Salvation for them both was in each other.

"I understand." He said and ran his hands through her hair and focused on the golden strands. He was actually more curious about seeing the Rockbells again than meeting General Grumman. He wondered if they managed to move past it all for the sake of their family. He wanted to know their secret, because he felt like it was a whirlpool of despair that he and Riza were stuck in together. Clinging to each other as they struggled to stay afloat, nauseated by the constant swirling of centrifugal force threatening to swallow them both. He wanted to be a better man for her and he hoped he could see how that was possible.

* * *

"Resenbool." Roy said as they stepped off the train and he looked up at the sign on the train station. The building looked new and he vaguely recalled something about a terrorist attack on the town during the war. Then his eyes drifted to a poster announcing the upcoming "sheep festival" and he was thankful they were missing out on that quaint country experience. The station was tiny and very few people disembarked the train leaving him to wonder exactly what a town this size did with two surgeons.

Riza looped her arm around his and smiled up at him. "I know it's probably not what you were hoping for."

Roy looked down at her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "You're right. I think this is the worst vacation I have ever had. Spending time with my beautiful fiance is just torture."

"You know what I mean." She leaned into his arm as he lead them both away from the station to where they expected their ride to be. From the platform they were able to see the new buildings erected after the terrorist attack in 1907. She heard more about this town from Sara than she knew about her own hometown and she was glad to see there were no real markers of the devastation from the explosion. However the buildings were more spread apart than you would typically see in an average town, empty lots reminders that some people didn't rebuild.

"Riza, I think it's a great choice. The Rockbells convinced you to stop hating me and believe it or not, that was a huge help in having you fall in love with me." Roy smirked.

"I liked you." She gave him a playful shove. "I wasn't in love with you."

"My mistake. Undeniably, madly in love at first sight." He said. "I however didn't have that choice, thankfully love is blind."

"You are in rare form today." She couldn't help but smile at him as he placed a kiss on her lips and gave her a boyish grin.

"I'm happy to be away from your grandfather and his questions." Roy said and grinned when she locked arms with him as the descended the stairs to get to the street.

"He's excited." Riza said simply, even though that didn't even begin to cover her grandfather's reaction to their engagement. Not only was the crafty old General boasting that he would get Roy a transfer to East City, but he was also delighted a celebrated alchemist, war hero and ambitious officer was marrying into the family. Elated was a better word to describe Grandfather's reaction. He almost spilled his wine when Roy told him he was planning to continue climbing the military ladder and was dedicating his life to do so. What the old man didn't hear was Roy's reasoning behind that, but her fiance was quite the enthralling speaker none-the-less. She saw the charade, the glint of satisfaction in his eye when he knew someone bought his story, and loved that she was the only one he truly trusted. He was going to fix the country and in order to do so he was going to have to be Fuhrer. There were no limits to what this man was capable of and she loved him all the more for it. Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw a familiar face across the street getting out of a truck. "There is our ride.

He frowned when he realized Urey wasn't looking too enthusiastic as they approached the old truck. Roy's face softened and he asked, "What's wrong?"

Urey took a deep breath. "The Elrics boys...got themselves in a little bit of trouble."

Roy had no idea who the Elrics were but Riza seemed to tense up and he remained quite content to just use context clues rather than interrupt.

"What kind of trouble?" Riza asked and saw the older man shake his head.

"There really are no words...I'll just have to show you." Urey took Roy's bag and put them in the back of the truck, Riza threw her own in as she went to the passenger side to get in the cab.

Roy jumped in the back of the truck, leaving Riza and her colleague to talk alone. He scooted up to put his back against the cab, hoping to overhear what he needed to know.

* * *

Riza was worried. Roy had been different when he came out of that old farmhouse. Whatever alchemy he saw in there had him angry and she had yet to see this side of him. She sat in the back of the truck and watched him stare off past her, his jaw set and eyes fixed on something out on the horizon. He had always been so open to her and now he shut her out, leaving her to question if she really knew the man she just got engaged to.

Roy felt the truck jerk to a stop and looked over at the yellow house. He slipped out of the back of the vehicle and held up his hand to help Riza down. He looked up at her and saw a look he wasn't accustomed to from her. "What's wrong?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing." She said and didn't move to take his hand.

"Those kids..." He closed his eyes and tried to calm down. He really wanted to go in there and choke the brats for doing something so damned stupid. "Tried to perform human transmutation. They were unsuccessful."

Riza felt a knot in her stomach. "What?"

"Sorry, I'm just..." He rested his hands on the tailgate. "I'm pissed that we're too late to stop them. If we had just come here first instead of going to your Grandfather's, we could have stopped them. God only knows what we're going to see in there, but it's not going to be pretty."

"Roy, there was no way to know this was going to happen. This isn't your fault." Riza let him help her down, feeling overwhelmingly guilty for doubting him. He grabbed their bags in one hand and put his other arm around her, taking a deep breath as he did so.

"It's just that...alchemists we have a way of thinking that..."

"Defies God?" She finished his sentence remembering a conversation they had already. In fact she had replayed all their conversations over and over in her head, looking for the flaws in him during those three months they had been apart. Instead she had fallen harder for the man who she barely spent a week with. A man who was only memories, letters and a picture. However it was moments like this when it felt like her emotions were waves crashing against the rocky shore as she realized how much she loved him.

"It's something we've all thought about." Roy stood up straight and held her shoulders. "I guess we know our tells, when we're really thinking that the unspeakable is possible."

"What's done is done." Riza said and together they walked to the house. Urey let them in and there was a dog with an automail leg who ran up to greet them.

Roy set the bags down and bent to pet the dog. He looked up and saw a kid, minus a leg and arm, sitting in a wheelchair in the corner. He stood up straight and made his way over to him, ready to lift the little shit out of his chair by his collar and scream until he went hoarse. Alchemy wasn't just a toy, it was a science and everything transmuted has serious implications! That kid knew it, but it still had to be said. He had to lay down the law, especially before he asked him to explain what happened. Fools! However before he could made it to the kid he was stopped by a little blond girl who ran up to him.

"Major Mustang?"

Roy let his anger subside and replied, "Actually, it's Lieutenant Colonel now."

"You're still the same Mr. Mustang who saved my parent's lives?" Winry Rockbell asked, her blue eyes beginning to tear up. "The Flame Alchemist?"

Roy watched the cripple kid in the corner react to that, a pair of golden eyes now looking at him instead of at the floor. He looked back down at the young girl and bent down on one knee to avoid looking down at her. "Yes, that's me. You must be Winry?"

Winry jumped onto him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you. Thank you for not letting that man take my parents from me."

Roy wasn't expecting that and suddenly his desire to berate the kid in the wheelchair was gone. He returned the hug and gave a heavily pregnant Sara a smile as she waved at him from the kitchen. "Well..."

"Perhaps you can help my friends? Being an alchemist?" Winry's voice tugged on his heartstrings.

Roy glanced over at the blond boy again, annoyed that his lecture had been permanently derailed. The boy's eyes locked onto his for a split second as Winry clutched his hand. "Winry, perhaps you can introduce me to your friend?"

Winry glanced over at Ed and wanted to cry. "Ed..."

"I don't need help from the military." The voice was low and barely audible, but the boy's eyes warned Roy to keep his pity and false promises to himself.

Roy stood and walked over to the kid. "Look, kid, I had every intention of walking in here and lecturing you about your mistake but I can see from your face you aren't going to listen to that. So instead, why don't you tell me what happened and we figure out how to reverse this?"

"Reverse it?" Ed let loose a weak laugh. "I just tried to bring back my dead mother and cost my brother his body. Why you see is our toll for dabbling in the forbidden. Don't punish me any more with your crap lecture."

"Your brother?" Roy asked and saw the armor beside the wheelchair move.

"Hello, sir." said a childlike voice out of the metal beside him.

"Blood seal." Ed snapped before he could ask. "So now you can arrest me for dabbling in the illegal."

"Who old are you?" Roy asked, astonished that a kid this young could not only figure out human transmutation but also a blood rune.

"Eleven." Ed rasped.

Roy knelt down next to the kid. He had seen men shut down during battle, men who froze and just couldn't go on fighting anymore. This young man didn't have that look, he didn't have the fear or lost vacant stare, there was fire in those golden eyes. "Then you want to help your brother get his body back, don't you? You want to get your limbs back?"

"Impossible." Ed whispered.

"Two hours ago I would have said the same thing about an eleven year old being able to perform human transmutation."

"Well we failed. So I guess..."

"You are a stubborn little shit, aren't you?" Roy huffed and watched those eyes flare up with anger. Good. "When you decide you want to quit feeling sorry for yourself, you come find me and I'll help you become a State Alchemist."

"Why would I want to become a dog of the military?" Ed asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"It will open up a world of research that you don't have access to. Books in Central Library, research funds, connections to alchemists in the bio-alchemy field...a lot that you won't have access to otherwise."

"I'm eleven." Ed replied.

"Well, I imagine it will take some time to get you fit with automail." Roy stood up and flashed him a smile. "So in a few years when you grow up..."

"A few years?" Ed snorted. "I'll do it in one."

Riza walked over and stood next to Roy, observing the smirk on his face and the determined furrow of the kid's brow. Why in the world he would tell this kid he'd help get him certified was beyond her. Why would he subject this boy to more horrors as a weapon of the military? Then again, left on his own he did something so desperate that even a boy his age would find himself in serious trouble for defying the law. Now the kid didn't look so lost though and it was because of what Roy said. She watched him turn to her and give her a smile. He continued to amaze her and she had to say she was looking forward to a lifetime beside him. Was that it? Did Roy see another person who just could never go home? Someone like them, haunted by a past and needing a future to grasp onto. A reason to keep going.

"Good." Roy said and wrapped his arm around Riza , then turned them both to the occupants of the room who were all silent now. "I'll expect to see you ready for action in a year...at our wedding."

Sara gasped and Riza couldn't help but smile. Not exactly how she wanted to announce it, but Roy seemed to have a soft spot for the dramatic. "Roy and I are getting married."

Sara ran over and hugged her. "Oh, Riza that's wonderful!"

Urey nodded his approval. Seeing how Roy seemed to spark some life into Ed, even though he didn't agree with the man, earned him a bit more respect. "So Riza, does that mean that you're going to be Doctor Mustang after that wedding? You are still planning to graduate first, right?"

Riza nodded. She had called Sara and talked about her lack of interest in finishing school and the woman had been adamant about her following through with it. "Yes I..."

"Oh no!" screamed a metallic voice from the back door in the kitchen. "Did I just hear you say Mustang?"

"Barry?" Riza asked and sure enough, there was Barry waving a cleaver and wearing a pick frilly apron.

"What is that on your finger!?No...NO!" Barry screamed and looked over at Mustang who gave him a satisfied smirk. Barry fell to the ground and made sobbing sounds. He took the opportunity to babble about how he had to murder his first wife and how he got married too young.

"You took him home with you?" Roy asked incredulously.

"He's an excellent cook and a great orderly." Sara explained and gave him a hug to welcome him to their extended family. She whispered, "And the military wanted to scratch out his blood seal and remove him from service. So we just shipped him home in pieces right under the military's noses and put him back together when we got back."

Roy glanced down at Ed. "That where you got the blood seal information from, kid?"

"I know more about the government labs than you do." Ed snorted. "Bastard."

"Watch your mouth, shrimp." Roy replied. "Better focus on getting yourself mobile again. Can't perform alchemy with one hand."

"Fine. I'll RSVP for that wedding of yours now. " Ed grumbled. "Best get read to eat your words along with your wedding cake."

"Deal." Roy said and hugged Riza as Barry cried about how he was losing the love of his life, Riza explained the history of the ring she was wearing and Winry asked if she could be the flower girl. Then a short elderly woman with a pipe walked in and broke it all up.

"What's going on in here?" Pinako Rockbell looked around and her granddaughter ran over to tell her the news. Ed was going to become a State Alchemist, Riza was getting married and Barry was heartbroken. She shook her head and just kicked Barry in his metal ass. "Well, tin can? These people look hungry and you know Sara is ravenous. Get stew ready. Ed, you going to eat?"

"Yeah." Ed said he hadn't had anything to eat but painkillers in days. "I have to get automail so I can got to get healthy before you agree to it. Old bat."

Barry grumbled as everyone found a place to sit at the kitchen table. Riza give her fiancee an affectionate smile that made him want to whine, but he knew Pinako would just put some more dents in his armor with the broomstick if he did. She looked happy, he didn't remember the last time he saw her smile. Maybe that Mustang guy wasn't so bad after all, however he'd keep an eye on him and one wrong move...

Pinako smacked him as he used a cleaver to cut the fresh baked bread. "Barry, you idiot! Pay attention."

Barry looked over his shoulder one last time as Riza answered questions about how Roy proposed and their plans for the future. Yeah, she was happy so perhaps dumping the pot of stew on him would be a tad wrong. So he sighed dramatically and carried the pot over to allow his new family to serve dinner. Maybe if Ed became a State Alchemist he could figure out how to get  _him_  back into his body. Equivalent exchange right? He helped him learn blood seals and he used the info to save Al. So if they found a way to get their bodies back, that meant they could help him out. Ok, maybe he could live with this.

* * *

The Rockbell house was a little overcrowded, but they managed to give Roy and Riza a nice twin bed in the recovery room of the automail shop. Roy was waiting on his fiance to return from her shower so he settled into the bed and considered the events of the day. He knew Riza would want an explanation as to why he would recruit a child for the military and he wasn't looking forward to that discussion.

However the rest of the evening had actually been really enjoyable. He loved seeing Riza enthralled with her occupation again as she toured the automail facility and discussed damned near every medical procedure ever performed with her friends. Medicine had become a flickering light in her eyes since they reunited, the flame of interest starting to die out without the passion to fuel it. It pained him because he knew the war ruined it for her. He hated to hear her talk about quitting school and it took every part of him to not insist she finish; To not be the overbearing ass that told her what to do with her life. So he just let her lean on him for support while she tried to find her direction again. He loved her honesty, even if it hurt to hear the truth. So when he watched her eyes shine with interest again he couldn't have been happier they came.

Now he had missed out on half the tour thanks to the Elrics who were not going to let an opportunity to grill a State Alchemist slip through their fingers. Ed was still weak from the blood loss thanks to his limb loss, so he sat at the table conserving his energy and listening. Alphonse, however, was an entirely different story. The boy didn't tire because he was simply a soul bound to an object, and he was quite the alchemy enthusiast himself. He shared the work they had done that had lead to their accident as well as the work He had also been trying to isolate a specific branch of alchemy that would hold the most promise for them to pursue. Then he casually mentioned that they were going after the philosopher's stone and the Elrics waited on his reaction. These kids were going to keep getting themselves in trouble and he knew it wouldn't go unnoticed by the State. So he simply repeated that they needed to focus on Ed's recovery and come see him when they were ready.

They'd either be the end of his career or the push to the top that he needed. He really didn't know which. However, tomorrow, they both wanted to go back up to their house and show him their Father's library. So this would be the remainder of their vacation, pouring over books and discussing their arts. It was a welcome break from Central, where both he and Riza were reminded daily about how their skill was so valued, or rather misused, by the military.

He looked up as Riza came in with a towel around her neck brushing her wet hair. "Hope you don't mind sharing a bed."

She had to laugh. They had been doing that for months now. Probably the best decision they made was moving in together, even if it was so quick. There was so much comfort in coming home to him and it wasn't all about the sex. Coming home to a well lit apartment, dinner cooking, his warm baritone voice singing along to the radio...it all made home a sanctuary again. To drop her things at the door, walk over and greet him with a kiss before talking about her day helped her leave her stress behind her. After dinner they'd lay on the couch together listing to the radio and reading books on their specific fields of study. Sometimes he'd discuss alchemy with her and other times she'd share a new medical procedure being tested at Central Hospital. Other times, they'd just find their way to the bedroom and explore each others bodies instead of professional journals and books. It was good. It was what kept them afloat. She she threw her towel on the chair and crawled into bed with him and placed a kiss on his lips. "As long as you don't mind me sleeping on you."

He gave an exaggerated sigh and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into the bed with him. "If you must."

She smiled at him and traced his jaw with her finger. "I think...I'm going to take the position with the military when I graduate."

He raised an eyebrow. Apparently the Rockbells had helped her work things out. "Oh?"

"If I become a surgeon and stay with the hospital, I'll be tied to it. If I join the Medical Corps, I'll be able to...move with you."

"Oh. So you think I need a babysitter?" He asked.

"I never want to be left in the dark about your job or location again. Ever. Not knowing if you were dead or alive, not even being able to reply to your letters, knowing I couldn't be there for you in those last days of the war..."

"Riza.."

"You mean too much to me, Roy. I can work my way up the military ladder too and if you ever are deployed again I can go with you." She felt a wave of relief as she finally found her own goal. "Someone needs to have your back. You're already protecting so many people in this house, protecting their secrets, that someone should be protecting you."

He didn't doubt that she could convince a commanding officer that a team needed a medical profession, especially when an asset like an alchemist was involved. "What brought this on?"

"Watching Sara with Winry and hearing her talk about their new baby. Winry almost lost her parents and would have if you weren't there. I can't handle watching you leave, not knowing when you'll come back or  _if_ you will. I can't just accept that no news is good news, I can't be like the people walking the streets of Central who just accept that everything is OK. I have patients that look at me and put their faith in  _me,_ with the same conviction that they put their faith in the government to do what is in their best interests.I know our government only does what is in  _it's_  best interests, so now I have someone I have to protect. You."

"What about a home? Family? I thought you wanted this?" Roy waved around to show he was referring to the Rockbell home. The Rockbells and their extended family were in his mind the perfect image of what home meant. Maybe there wasn't a secret to staving off the bad memories, maybe it was just about surrounding yourself with what you're fighting for. Perhaps instead of pulling each other up when the current became too strong to stay above water they should swim together to get away from it. Fight against the force trying to drag them under by working together to overcome. His eyes returned to Riza's as she brushed his hair out of his eyes and looked into them.

"My home is where you are." She kissed him again and whispered. "It's the only place I feel safe and happy. With you."

"I feel the same way." He pressed his lips to hers and clicked off the light. The darkness that once was a source of insecurity and fear was no longer a issue with her by him. As it had been from the beginning.

* * *

AN: This story is finally done. Hope you enjoyed it, feedback is always appreciated. Thanks for reading!

In MASH, Radar disassembled a Jeep and shipped it home piece by piece, so I opted to let Barry take a ride through the postal service as well.


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